I personally really liked how they reset your character and give you a new party. Yes, it got a little old by the third time, but with Miitopia it really gives you a lot of options to try new things an introduce new characters to the story (its basically a fan-fiction simulator). Miitopia's only real problem is just how freaking _long_ the game is. All of these issues wouldn't really be issues if they didn't give you _so much time_ to get annoyed by them.
I think that the not controlling your party mechanic could’ve been solved with the trust mechanic. Have it so if your MC becomes great friends with someone you can control them in turns. This would give a further incentive to building friendships with miis. I don’t really know what would happen for non MC miis getting along, maybe it would make ai smarter is something, or just keep the adding attacks for friendship mechanic.
I do think it would have been a neat mechanic if you could instruct them some times at least. Even if it's just occasionally. Regardless, I currently prefer the system that's already in the game. I had a blast working with it, even if the AI fucks around a lot X3
@@SmashedTomatoes I personally prefer all control to be more strategic but given the overall game tone to be funnier and lighter I can see why shenaniganery trumps strategic thinking.
This vid kinda jogged my memory on why first stopped playing Miitopia. When all my party members were kidnapped and my job taken away (4 the second time) I claimed it was bad writing and bad game design but tbh i only said that cause I was angry
Hella! I've seen many people drop the game thinking this because of the communication issue. I recommend you give it another go, now that you know. It's incredibly fun!
@@ry-lazer4328 You mean my weird-ass fanfiction where Kenny from South Park gets possessed by Doug Louis in a game of face off and so 4 other dudes have to beat the ever loving shit out of him to set him free of his mortal coils?
I feel like automatic teammates only works in the main story. After beating the main game, the game should let us manually control all party members (especially because the MC can fall ill in the post-game, meaning you're left with absolutely no control over your party temporarily). That said, the post-game would need to be designed around manual control and thus probably would need to be harder. Another complaint I have is that it's just really annoying to get new party members created in the post-game up to the level of your main story party members. It sort of deters me from wanting to take advantage of the post-game villa.
Yup, I agree on the second point. I like the first cuz it really enhances the feeling of a D&D campaign or actually going on a trip with friends. You have to strategize around unpredictability, which makes the game more fun due to having mostly simplistic mechanics. I wish the post game let you level up miis faster as well tho, I'd love to have a big 4 Mii room at the inn for miis to grow their relationship faster, as well as them getting some sort of XP boost when other miis in the team are higher level...
@@SmashedTomatoes would also like the inn itself to be able to hold 14 party members in postgame, since there's 14 jobs in miitopia. with 10 slots, you're forced to keep 4 party members in the villa, which is really annoying if you ever want to use them
The second one is so true! I’m trying to level up a new character so I go to, say, Neksdor, because that’s the second area so it’s not deadly but it’s not that hard but then once the character gets to the level where they would be out of Neksdor and then for some reason every other zone either give a garbage amount of EXP or kill everybody, even the high-level Mii’s Is the team-wiping because I don’t feed them a proper diet specialized specifically for each character to maximize their useful stat gains? Maybe. But it still sucks
I think we should be given a choice overall if we want our teammates to be auto controlled, or manually. Luckily for people with modded switches, they already made a mod for that. The bright side is that the AI is actually for the most part smart in the strategies they use to do battles. At least for me. I never had an issue where any of my teammates spammed or used a stupid move, minus the jobs that had crappy moves like the pop-stars, which is kinda understandable lol
I actually liked the idea of forcing you to make more party members, so I didn't get bored of the one's I'd been with, and then rescuing them all and seeing them meet eachother was a solid payoff. Same goes for resetting the main character's class, forcing me to try out a new one, instead of getting comfortable sticking with the same thing the whole game.
But wouldn't it be cooler if your main character was like... an humunculi of all the classes you picked through your journey? That'd go SOOOOO hard for me.
here's the thing. for what miitopia does with it, I LOVE how miitopia takes away your party, it forces players to try the new classes(and the ones missed out on previously), and get a feel for 9 different party members to fully get a chance to decide what playstyle is best for them. kinda like tough love
As someone who beat the 3ds version and in the end game for the switch port, I feel like the way they take your party’s away is because they want you to make more members so you don’t just have the same 4 the entire game. And plus you get them back during karkaton so it’s just a temporary loss. Unless you don’t have any good ideas for new characters I suppose that’s why you would end up leaving the game, but the rewards you can find after the first half of the game are what makes the game actually fun. So when you lose your original party don’t just think it’s bad game design, it’s just the developers wanting you to make more members.
The problem is HOW the communicate that the loss is temporary. Plays don't know they'll get their party back, so even if it has good purpose for late game stuff, it ends up making players in the early game quit. I go over it on the video
@@SmashedTomatoesI disagree. They show where the characters went, and especially after the second party kidnapping, it's pretty clear that you'll see them again. Otherwise, you wouldn't be seeing them in a cutscene, would you?
@@SmashedTomatoesdon’t forget, there are cutscenes showing your teammates in that pit (or something-), and they (i think) talk abt how the main character will rescue them someday, which kind of hints that it is possible to get them back.
For me it’s just that I made the main 4 my ocs that I always draw. But I don’t have more than 4 ocs at the moment and it felt dumb to have less meaningful characters in place of them after having the impression that I was going to be having these main 4 for the game I just want my silly ocs to keep going together, but with this I’d have to insert characters that I inevitably do not care about as much as my ocs and then when I actually get my ocs back I’ll just only use my main 4 ocs and never anyone else (not to mention I was attached to the idea that the main one was a warrior and then none of the other jobs felt like it fit him at all) But I have a solution: I just won’t use my already existing ocs when I come back to this game some day. I’ll make new little characters that I’ve never made before so that when I lose them, they’ll be on the same level of “importance” in my head as the new ones I’ll keep making when I lose them (hopefully that made sense lol)
That's honestly a general problem with RPGs where characters level up individually and you can't have everyone at once. You probably want to encourage players to use as many characters as possible and if you have a player who has 4 characters they like why add extra? This is doubly so if the player has the final boss which requires all 10 teammates to fight. I don't see how else this can be done.
I'm surprised people dislike this part, I went into that part completely blind and if anything, it was probably the moment I went from thinking of Miitopia as a pretty cool game to an amazing game. It gave me an incentive to keep going and while I wasn't as attached to the Neksdor team, it only made my bond with the realm of fey team even tighter since I didn't want to let them go only making the rush to Karkaton much more impactful. Though honestly my biggest problems with the game has to be the fact that you have very little control of your teammates (Even in the post game) and the sickness mechanics just being a plain pest, maybe if it were much more based around characters who are used too much or the highest level team members then it could be better.
That just means you got the memo that losing your party was temporary, or it simply appealed to you. I've seen so many people lose interest in the game from this.
Bit late, but if anyone sees this, keep in mind that recovering from sickness depends on the sick person's level and the amount of exp earnt by the team on the field. If they are all the same level, it should take 2-3 trips, assuming you're fighting on-level enemies. This makes leveling up much less of a problem, but seriously though, being unable to control the party when you're away is pretty sad
The illness mechanic is one of the stupidest things in the game because realistically using all of your party evenly would still leave you underleveled for the final postgame area Idk why they didn't just have some sortof exp share or simply just let people use who they wanted Got thru the entire game's shenanigans of stripping you of your party yet it's still trying to take them. I've beaten the 3ds version twice and it still irks me
@@SmashedTomatoes I actually noticed something weird with that! I wanted to use my weaker teammates to get their lvl up (since I have one party I use the most) but I saw I couldn’t let the MC stay, at post game, I only could after he got sick for the first time Weird right
i never actually play the postgame because of the illness mechanic honestly, i really wish our whole party could get exp at once so it was more managable
For a game that wants you to make use of everyone having one maxed team is the way to go unfortunately. I genuinely tried using everyone in my switch run for a bit but defaulted back to one team (with a back up for the split up sections) because it was just more inconvenient for little pay off. It already feels handicapping enough just trying to get your very first party member caught back up after how long they've been gone and with them being the very last to come back.
The reason getting my team members stolen worked was because it was integrated into the story. Even having my in-game Mii hating that by the 3rd time it happened. The sickness mechanic doesn't work not only because it halts the pace completely, but also because it's never mentioned in-game. It's not an in-universe thing like capturing team members was. It sort of pops up and now you have to deal with it for the rest of the game. I could see Powdered Peaks getting people sick, but not the rest of the worlds. They are too outlandish for that kind of concept.
While I do think sickness could be executed better, I don't think anyone dropped the game because of it. The story integration for the miinappings is not nearly sufficient to feel necessary.
@@SmashedTomatoes It's funny, then. Since it's the opposite for me. I didn't mind when the Dark Lord took away my party but whenever a Team Member I was using got sick, I almost quit because of that. *Almost* I know now that sickness is based on how much EXP you collect, but still. It's quite the pace breaker for me compared to everything else in the game.
It's a really good mechanic when you know about it, but it's an awful mechanic when its a suprize. The mechanic is a great way to let you trial all jobs from level one, and have more miis. Of course, however, it has all the issues mentioned in this video I watched failboat's series of the original game before getting the switch version (released shortly after I finished watching the streams), and I had a heck of a time with it, in that I could plan around it. The thing about Fail's origional playthrough, though, is that he lost interest in his miis made in neksdor and beyond, because he was stuck wanting his old party back that he was prepared to spend the whole game with.
Yup! I actually made this video after watching 3 of my favorite let's players drop the game before getting to the 2nd half. Even people who want to continue playing it got fed up with it. I found failboat's series during research and it really contrasts so much with tomodachi life let's plays, where people manage to care about the dynamic of 30-80 miis.
I absolutely hated that I wasn’t warned that my job was being switched for the last time. And during that last time you’re stuck as that job for probably the longest length. During that time I chose tank as a joke and it is by far the worst decision I’ve ever made.
I was already decently leveled as an Imp during the last job switch, and I was a Tank in the Realm of the Fey, so from Karkaton onwards, I still went with the Imp because it was insanely fun!
TRUE I PICKED TANK TOO😭 my first 2 choices were pretty good but then it all went downhill with the Tank. I was so glad they let you switch back, I ended up keeping the Cat
I didn’t mind that miinaping mechanic because I knew I’d get them back even though It was inconvenient, then again a level 30 jack skellington oneshotting the dark lord wouldn’t be very riveting gameplay.
Fun fact: When I first played the game blind(and yes miinapping made me very upset and I spent the whole time wishing I had the first team), I thought the game ended at the time you beat the Dark Lord. I thought the Darker Lord was the postgame or teasing a sequel. And by the time I found out that it wasn't, I was too out of the loop to have the motivation to play it again outside of just making the Miis with makeup.
Damn, that sucks. The second half of the game is some of my favorite stuff! Cooler worlds and faster phase, plus the addition of non-linear elements, I enjoyed it very much.
Online Multiplayer would work REALLY WELL in a game like Miitopia. You can team up with people around the world and you fight together, each controlling your own Mii. Local Multiplayer would work well in regards to this too.
I liked this mechanic only because in the switch version it allowed me to interact with the insane mii maker more. Also it forced me to actually use the new classes as they came up.
I feel like Miitopia is a game that gives back what you put into it. I used a lot of my favorite characters for the roles, so I came to be very attached to them. When the Dark Lord took away my teammates, I was genuinely sad, and determined to get them back. Without that personal connection that I had, I can easily imagine why this part of the game would be frustrating. That said, it frustrates me indirectly because the Darker Lord plot twist is easily my favorite part of the game, and I wish more people got to see it, lol.
Fully agree on the second part! It was awesome seeing the game justify why one of your most "pure" roles becomes evil. It made it so the bad guy isn't just a bad guy, ya know?
for me personally, I tend to play Miitopia way less than I used to because of how monotone it gets. After beating the game several times at this point, I finally decided to start a 100% save file. The only problem? How long it takes you to get there. Even the most strategical, smart Miitopia players will take months and sometimes years to 100% this game (mainly because of the achievements of levelling up one character and buying every weapon/armour for them) and the amount of motivation it took turned it into a chore for me to play. I can tell the grind is necessary but for a game like this where your grind is evenly spread out across the main campaign, the second part of the game - a.k.a returning to the traveller's hub for the 1000th time - is the other 80% of the chore list. tldr good game but i blame the huge level scaling for making it uncompletable for casual players
The miinaping mechanic could have executed better, you're right. I've beaten the game 5 times but I always end up using my party members from the original team (greenhorne), partially because it's usually people i'm the most "attached to", and mainly because they're the strongest, original one. i rarely use my other mii's, only if one of my main party miis is sick or if i need a certain job.
also the sickness mechanic- i kinda hate it bc it DOESN'T WORK AS INTENDEDD!!! it doesn't make you use other miis because the ones that get sick are the ones you already don't use!
I remember I used that team as well my first time around, but I had stuck with the scientist job instead of warrior. Honestly, this game is a lot about what you make of it, so it can work either way! The mechanic that makes you use other miis is usually the one where they split them, which are some of my favorite times in the game.
I agree with being more attached to the party from Greenhorne, but once I got all of my Miis back, only 1 of them ended up making it into my final party. By that time I knew what classes were good and bad, and the party members from Greenhorne didn't have them, because they weren't unlocked by then. So it kind of made me want to use my party members from Neksdor and Realm of the Fey more
Honestly it kinda fits in this game. I never found myself frustrated; Moreso surprised that the villain was actually SMART. Not only that but the game is tailored around the fact that you're going to be a lot less powerful when you lose your members so it balances its enemies around it but not too much as it knows that you know the combat system at this point. It adds some tension and it gasses you up to beat this guy who stole your friends, and it even plays into the final fight. They cooked with this one, and it tasted great.
Yeah, they cooked, It's just that some players felt like their where in the middle of the amuse buche, got their plate removed and couldn't get past the actual appetizer because they really liked the amuse bouche. But what they don't know is that the entre is incredible and amazing.
I actually kind like how you can’t control your other party members because you *aren’t them*. The game is presented as a play, and they have their own scripts. When you look at normal RPGs, the MC is normally presented as the leader. The one who calls the shots. But in Miitopia, you are not a leader. The game even confirms this by giving the credit for the battle to whoever does the finishing blow to the last enemy. You are equals, and thus, you don’t control anyone but yourself. But that’s just my take.
I mean, that's what I say basically, I love that mechanic, particularly for a miitopia like game where half the fun is seeing them do stuff you don't want them to do.
miitopia is one of the most unique games i've ever played, i haven't seen anything like it at all after playing. the artstyle, the gameplay, the plot twist which made an already long game even longer, it's a very good game!
I remember it taking me by surprise when I first reached Neksdor, and scrambling to find characters. I still persisted because I still really liked my protag and horse, but it was definitely kind of awkward coming up with new characters on-the-spot like that. Thankfully I suspected it'd happen again in the Realm of the Fey, and really enjoyed making my third party. Sadly that means that my second party is very much the one I personally found least memorable, but I still enjoyed trying out different job combos (and discovering that a duo of Cleric and Pop Star is practically impossible to lose with; I already knew from my first party that Pop Star was busted, but add Cleric and suddenly no one dies, like, ever lol). I did *kinda* have advance warning from my sister (who played the 3DS version before) that I probably won't keep my first team the entire way, but the "how" and "when" still took me by surprise.
10:38 I feel even this simple “HELP!” graphic would definitely encourage so many people to continue on and try to save their party. I personally do like the reset, as it allows you to create a whole new dynamic with new Jobs/team members, though I do wish there was some sort of system that made it clearer that you’ll get those party member back so you don’t choose the same Jobs as your previous party had. I don’t think they should lock you out of it entirely but something like a pop-up message saying “a previous party member already had this Job, and there’s a chance to rescue them. Do you wish to continue?”
@@SmashedTomatoes I just wish that when your party got taken away they didn't take away your job or let you pick a new job. That way you could experiment or keep it. That only happening the third time is kinda bogus.
I was fortunate enough to know the Miinaping was coming, but to someone just picking it up and having their progress and team wiped out of nowhere is a major kick in the nuts for a lot of people that are invested in their party and the class they picked. Like you said it could have been a neat and fun mechanic if done right, but the way they did just made it feel like "Hey, you having fun? Well stop it and have fun a different way now."
Although I don't mind the mechanics for this game, I have this idea of resetting the team by having your original Mii leader and the first two other miis be kidnapped, so now you have the chance to play as the last mii to join your team with a different job.
That could work, but that'd take away from the feeling they wanted to achieve where you're just part of a team, rather than the leader. You have no control over your party because they are supposed to be your friends, not your units, if you know what I mean.
For me the repetition when you get new party members never really bothered me. The games humor through the faces that get put on the bosses always excites me whenever I get to a new area.
Just the faces? I think the game's humor was a constant hit for me, I regularly only laugh as much playing comedy games like jazzpunk and such. Tomodachi and Miitopia just found their way to be that while not being strictly comedy games.
@SmashedTomatoes oh yeah the humor definetely. But I've played through the games so many times the humor nowadays comes through the faces most of the time. But I still get some funny moments from some of my dumber teams
I like the mechanic of losing your party as you enter a new land, it helps you actually get to experience each role and use new miis. I never found it infuriating because I always thought of the game as just an imaginative stage play that’s supposed to be wacky
Yeah, as I said, the mechanic is good for the lategame and stuff, it's just poorly communicated that you'll get em back, or how you can do it and stuff.
Bro I got so flashbanged by my miis at 11:37 💀I was like “wait I know those guys” But yeah while I personally liked the party resets I can see why they’d be so discouraging. Combined with how difficult and slow leveling can get, making you pick new jobs doesn’t feel worth it when you already had a high-level one
hahahaha, you do know them. Thanks for the footage, it was very useful. :3 At least the leveling is permanent for the job and you can pick it up later, tho I know some people aren't fans of grinding in this game
@@SmashedTomatoes fr it took me months to get everything 100%, especially since I realized that monsters only spawn at specific levels MONTHS after I started going for 100% 😭👍
I've beaten Miitopia well over 20 times so I think I can give a review on this. First of all, uncontrollable parties. I can see why people would be mad that they can't control their teammates but I can assure you its not as bad as other RPGS that do not let you control their party (like Persona 3). Miitopia overall is not a hard game until you get to the post game areas, so people should not complain too much about it. And I guess the A.I can be bad, but either way your main character is more then strong enough to handle it. Second, the dark lord taking your teammates. Why is this something people are mad about? Are you serious? Miitopia has so many job choices and only 4 team slots. AND THE WHOLE POINT OF THE GAME IS TO PICK MIIS THAT YOU LIKE AND FIT THE JOBS. Also, one of the best parts of the game is rescuing your teammates in Karkaton, so it makes it all worth it. And your progress is not lost and it all balances out in the end, so I think this is a very dumb reason to quit. Personally, the only thing I hate from my 600 hours with miitopia is the sickness mechanic in the second half of the game. Just don't quit Miitopia. It's an amazing game.
As I said in the video, the mechanic has so many lategame advantages that I don't think the game works without it, hence why I also never suggest outright removing it. But also, of course this mechanic is not an issue for you if you have beat the game 20 times! New players are the focus here, because they don't know fundamental information that you'll bat no eye to on a second playthrough.
the reason I stopped giving the other party members foods is because they just leave and made it so my main mii just ate everything. I just felt like it was wasted on the other members because they would just be taken anyway.
I mean, you get far too much food to feed only your character, it gets full after a few dishes, and you'd easily stockpile if you didn't feed the rest of the team. That said, I prioritize my main character's grub too.
I’ve played Miitopia too many times. I wish for direct control of my party and Persona style gameplay. that’s all. The Dark Lord miinaping party members is fun because I make new strategic teams depending on each section of the main story. Then, I mix and match certain members for the other worlds
You got it! The idea is fun, if they had executed it better so players would not be bothered by the miinaping, I think more people woulda progressed into karkaton.
The main thing I despise about sickness is when it happens to the Protagonist. You’re getting all control of the game taken away from you besides safe spot and sprinkles management. At least in battles with protag you have at least one person you can strategize around, but once protag gets the sniffles you’re on autopilot until you grind out exp with your non sick party members. And then another party member also gets sick so you have to now grind exp for them. Sickness would be better if: Protagonist wasn’t able to get sick even during post game, and you couldn’t have more than one sick Mii at the same time. Other than that, god would Miitopia feel so much better if after a certain point party members became controllable. I still stand by the fact this game is peak fiction though.
And the thing is, this doesn’t really make you use your other miis in the long run Most players (including me) immediately switch back to using their greenhorne team the moment they get them back, so it’s really just a nuisance to players
I personally never realized that this was a problem. It didn't make me quit at all. Instead I was really curious as to where the story was gonna go, because I sure as heck didn't expect that. It pulled the rug from under me in a way that I never expected, since it's something that never happens in typical RPGs. To me it was a good way to subvert expectations from RPG mechanics, and to add freshness to the experience by making a new party instead of keeping the same one throughout the entire game.
Yeah! There's a specific player type that didn't mind the change at all, and most players aren't exactly bothered by it that much, but I can see some players going :c when it happens.
A *really* good game's example of this "non-controllable characters," is oddly the Tales Of series. As a massive Tales of Symphonia fan, I know that firsthand you have to work with teammates doing their own thing: spells and attacks. But, in that game compared to Miitopia, you can at least direct them from time to time with menu actions, have them use items for you while you're busy beating up a boss, and even switch the first character in the party to let *you* control them. It reminds me of how that game is much more flexible with strategy and Miitopia is more so a "watch the game with little influence." There's a reason why they added an "auto-fight" button. And while Tales of Symponia never removes your stuff, they can still hinder you with great roadblocks and spikes in difficulty. Miitopia feels like they just said "what if we did it, but AGAIN?" and it really pushes the mindset that really, your progress never mattered until the endgame. Demoralizes the work you do, a lot. Loving the video (so far) and off the bat I'm loving how this looks!
Hehehe, thanks! I should play tales of, but they are long and I don't have that much time. Miitopia is a VERY beginner friendly RPG, I think almost any RPG has more strategy and tactical play than it, and it's purposefully like that so new players and casuals can get into the genre. that comes with possitives and negatives, but I honestly just really enjoy the game's basic strategy as is.
I remember my first time playing Miitopia (Switch) and when I lost my party when entering nektdor after I did all that work grinding and exploring, I rage quit; mostly because I didn’t think I was gonna need more miis but also because I freaking loved my party
I honestly liked the idea that every world for the first 3 worlds you lost your party members and the first 2, you lost your class. Story wise, as the Dark Lord flees East it is like they are getting revenge for you stopping them. Seeing how you will do without your friends and your "powers". But it is also a fun way to introduce new classes instead of locking every one of them behind a charm. I like the idea as it also helps with the achievements slighly where you need to get to set levels for each class. It also inspires you to try something new instead of sweeping through everything, plus it fills in all the slots in the inn. I do like your idea of the sandstorm causing us to meet the first ally in Neksdor as it was such a huge missed oppurtunity. I honestly wished most party members had a cutscene of sorts where they showed up. Like what if Ally 2 was with the Great Sage for awhile but the G.S persuades them to join your team and the G.S tells you to take care of Member 3. Maybe an ally in Neksdor could have caught the prince with the lamp and they were a bystander but took the lamp to give to the party or something. So it isn't like they just showed up, as like how would they know which Inn to go to out of all the hundreds of inns? Plus it could kinda add more to the story or can just be headcanons. Ally 1 joins you because you need help Ally 2 joins you before you meet Great Sage - So why not they were traveling with them Ally 3 joins you when you defeat a boss(?) - Perhaps they could join you before the battle, your team seeing it could be a tough battle or they are found in a level fending off monsters alone Ally 4 - I like your idea that they join you when you get lost in a sandstorm (a big huge missed oppurtunity) Ally 5 - They could be where the prince is when they got the lamp and are the one who gives it to you-So basically prince cutscene but changed. Ally 6 - Could be passed out from traveling the desert but when you set camp and help them they join you. Ally 7 - You get lost in the ROTF- Basically Fae Wilds magic stuff, but this ally comes in and guides you through the ROTF. Ally 8 - Could have been a traveler who got closed in the retreat or stayed there to recover from an attack from the DL and they join you Ally 9 - Final ally originally found when you make it to Bigg Forest. I personally feel they should have been found a TINY bit earlier since like they come in so late they get one shotted. Perhaps you could find them in Citrus Cave? If to early still maybe after the spider boss? For story purpose, perhaps they went off to go find the Mid Fab Fairy on there own or even tried to go get the Eldest Fab Fairy (Could explain why they were in Bigg Forest). But if we go the EFF route, perhaps they could have been stopped by like a miniboss and you fight them off along with A9? Perhaps could also give them extra EXP so they won't die off.
Those are neat ideas that would certainly bring more fun times to players! But maybe they didn't find a way to make it clear those characters would be your party members unless they broke the 4th wall or something, so they couldn't really go for that system... I woulda liked SOMETHING like it tho, maybe for a (extremely unlikely) sequel?
Yeah, this mechanic was.... Not fun. I actually got spoiled on it before it happened. And planned my playthrough around it.... Though, I wouldn't say this is the worst mechanic. Personally, despite the "comedy". I kinda hate how petty the Miis are. Like, they get mad at each other for the STUPIDEST reasons sometimes. But, the WORST mechanic is the sickness one... random RNG deciding to take a party member out of the running for a good while. Including the MAIN CHARACTER in post game. I really wish they had let you change the party leader in post game at least. The dumbest thing of all is, it literally is RNG based. Since you can see who got sick, reset before hitting A again. Then beat that level again. Either someone else will be sick. Or no one at all will be. Such a dumb mechanic....
I feel like it's a good way to avoid you getting to use the same team all the time, and worse case scenario you die and get sent back to the inn with your mii now healed. No one outright dropped the game over it.
@SmashedTomatoes Problem is. It normally doesn't even target Miis you overuse. Usually, the ones who get sick are ones you need to use more because they're under leveled.
This was actually my favorite mechanic in miitopia. It forces the player to think a little more creatively and make a different team than they were used to that was just as functional, and the extra jobs introduced is just the icing on the cake. Real worst mechanic is the illness. At some point in the game (after you beat the dark lord?) your miis have a chance to fall ill, unable to battle for an extended duration. This is likely to force the player to use more of their party late game. Maybe it’s because I’m salty or something but I think this mechanic is unfun.
@@SmashedTomatoes that makes sense. It was definitely frustrating at first but in the end there’s something so refreshing about miitopia. It’s a nice change of pace from your standard rpg.
New players have no idea how minor the setback is due to the bad framing, more so when the very next part is just a repeat of the progress you already made. Players make quick and harsh decisions a lot of the times so it's important to make them feel comfortable with the design.
So, way back in 2018 when I played for the first time and got through the end of the starting area, I was starting to feel a bit bored, like, I saved the princess, all my party members are in good levels and have good gear, so… now what? But the game throws a curve ball and takes all of those things and I found it an amazing idea, it felt fresh. I know it's a bit silly, but this was the moment I stopped liking Miitopia to start to love Miitopia. And this pays off when you get to the lava world and have to rescue your friends in a different order, it keeps your party new and lets you experiment more.
What makes the progress reset mechanic work, in my eyes, is how Miitopia balances the difficulty to account for how you're starting back at square one. It's because your character is alone (And no, I am not counting the Horse, as I've only played the 3DS version.) and stripped of the job class option you had before... As this game depends leveling up on the job classes, not on the characters themselves. And the enemies are significantly less difficult, because if it was progressing as normal, there would be no way you could work your way back up, even if you met new party members that way, because THEY start at square one, too! The real problems I have with the game are three things: 1. The automatic battle system. Generally it's a lot of fun, and most battles are fair enough for luck to be in and out of your favor (Except for the bosses that either use RNG, being the tomato triplets, or force you to wait a turn because of a useless NPC party member, like my least favorite battle in the game, the Cerberus battle with the Foreign Prince.). But when it gets in your way, it shows... The final boss battle in particular is an example of this, as since you only control your lookalike, you have to choose which part of the Darker Dark Lord's body that you will attack with your teammates, and which one your teammates will have to face without you. And even then, at least you can use those sprinkles to accommodate your lack of control over their actions. 2. Outside of the mechanic reset sections, the creation of new Miis that aren't given to you in the narrative during the main or post game suffer from that same mechanic reset. They have to start from square one, even if the rest of your party is maxed out, making them essentially useless that late in the game. And also, changing your job class when the game doesn't require you to, resets your progress as well. I guess the idea is that you're supposed to form a connection with the job class you selected at the beginning and the first mechanic reset, but otherwise, I find it stupid and harsh. 3. The innuendos...are rather questionable here. The friendship mechanic? Established through hearts, which some have pointed out in the official Miitopia Discord server to be rather suggestive. Hearts in the eyes are symbolic of falling in love with someone, and that's not what friendship is by default. Platonic love is never represented that way, outside of Miitopia. And as for the Twerkey... No. Just no. That thing is as demographically inappropriate as you can get, considering what twerking actually is... And the fact that the turkey's Mii face is on its ass makes it all the more abrasive. You can like that thing all you want, but when I say fuck it, I mean KILL IT WITH FIRE.
The only consolation with the Twerkey is that it was the english localizer's decision to name it that, it's original japanese name was actually a play on words that's far less suggestive, but doesn't translate to other languages very well. That said, no one likes the enemy regardless, and for good reason.
The twerky is my favorite enemy in miitopia, but that's BECASUE it's cursed. I do think the villa might be the real worst mechanic, as those miis are always pointless. But given it's not necessary to beat the game, I'd say the one you'll encounter no matter what is much more relevant for a video topic X3
@@TGOArchive illness is a minor inconvenience. Not a single time did I find it to be the worst, tho I do wish the game had medicine for it cuz lot's of people seem to hate it
Personally, I loved the part when the game kidnapped all of my party members and did in fact whipped out almost all of my progress to fit an extra 10 hours of necessary play time and it was even better the second time. Also, why does Dimitri have a sword instead of a lance and Shamir is a bow knight instead of a sniper?
I don’t mind the mechanic. Firstly, it means you have to make more miis, which means there’s even more to grow attached to. Second, it means you have to try out new classes, giving more variety to the gameplay (the class change also means you don’t become overleveled from the main story).
Yup, the mechanic is great for the lategame as I say in the video, which is why I think the mechanic's presentation is the issue, rather than it's design.
My only concern on my first playthrough when I lost my class and party members was if I'd be able to progress, because I almost lost in the first area. I had chosen scientist, and spread my food to everyone instead what I did later where I gave myself all the food. My least favourite feature was that my best characters kept getting sick. They'd get better then get sick a few levels later.
Yup, sickness did need some RNG shenanigan prevention. I do think greenhorn is harder than Neksdoor! Neksdoor has no fiends and only 1 relatively tricky boss.
@@SmashedTomatoes I'm playing through it again, and now I don't like it when my party tries to protect others from fiend attacks. Like thanks, now I have more than one party member down.
I remember on my 3ds when I got the game early I played my heart out and when I got to the point where my party members got took for the first time I was probably the most devastated I have ever been in my life because my favorite Wii sports CPUs were taken away from me💀 Thankfully I had plenty of miis I loved so it was fine but it did make my main priority save my first group/ my favorite mii instead of save miitopia.
I love Miitopia. I went into the game knowing very little at launch on 3DS, and loved the whole thing. If you aren't experimenting with all the jobs and personality types, you're playing it wrong. :) Repeat playthroughs are wild if you pick even more different combinations, as things that worked well before don't often work if even one cog is out of place. I've replayed the game a few times, and each playthrough is wildly different. Going into Miitopia with a battle plan is not the name of the game. Watching your little Miis be adorable and squabble is the main fun. :)
You got that right! The fun is things not going your way, that's why I would sometimes mix and match teams towards the end of the game, it was fun seeing them screwing around at every bit. One of my problems with the switch version is that they replace so many random events with "wow the horse is a thing!". Especially those scenes where 2 miis would start dancing or tripping randomly, it was so silly.
@@SmashedTomatoes I was pretty excited when the port was announced, but that excitement fizzled out the more I learned about it. I never ended up buying it. The advanced Mii Maker was less cool than it first appeared too, as seeing hair physics on Miis really weirded me out. The Miis have always had this stiff, action figure in motion charm to them, and seeing their hair sway around really weirded me out. I get that the feature is called wigs, but they accidentally made the new hairstyles LOOK like wigs because they don't look natural on a Mii.
what i don't like that much about the game is the fact that you can only control the MC. while this isn't an issue for most of the game, some story parts lock you out of using your MC, which means you mostly become just a spectator. They should allow you to control whatever character is on the 1st spot, as in the post game, the fact you can only play as the MC mostly encourages you to just use him in every team combination
I dunno, I kinda enjoyed seeing my teammates working without me. Like, it was cool to see they are friends with each other outside of my main character, controlling one of them would just make it feel like they wouldn't be friends if it wasn't for you. Roleplay is cool for me and those moments where always brief.
I remember HATING the sickness thingy that appears in the game's second half, to the point I modified the files to disable it. It was insanely annoying
It's certianly annoying, but it's very temporary and you can clear it easily. I do wish they had made like a grub that cured it faster tho, that way players could strategize around it.
@@SmashedTomatoes the only consistent way I knew how to clear it was to fight the final boss again, which then meant you had to sit through the entire ending Otherwise you'd just have to do a number of quests until they popped back well again and if my mii was the one to fall ill, I was doing that final boss
@@Wizzkidwasi always do the secret level next to the final boss and do the snurp route, since it farms snurp radishes & gold and you can get the exp if the rare snurps spawn in the last battle
A little late but for me, I loved building new team members because I have so many ocs and I liked picking a new class because of the sheer variety between them! What made me stop playing a little into the second world though was just that t felt so repetitive, like nothing at all changed despite everything being flipped upside down, and so I found the gameplay loop ended up getting boring (3ds ver. btw)
4:30 the worst mechanic is the post game in general, I feel like this mechanic is fine because you can just create new party members anyway with cooler roles to replace them.
The post game in general is probably more like a part of the game than a mechanic. Also, even people here in the comment section mention using mostly their 1st party once they get it back...
I honestly didnt really mind because i put the most random miis in my team and I was like 'oh so this is how you continue' with the miinapping bit- also the main character's reaction was hilarious each time it happened. And for the sickness feature, YEAH IT ANNOYS THE POOP OUT OF ME. Especially when my main character gets sick- but i have 4 other level 50s of the same job (warrior) that arent my protagonist and i usually main a 4-warrior team and also o u t i n g s. a r e. t h e. b e s t. Outings= chaos + wholesomeness= perfect
for all the comments complaining about party sickness, there is an exploit i have discovered years ago that helps deal with this however, this is only accessible if you unlock the final boss spot (mostly postgame) if you go to attempt the final boss with a sick party member, that party member will suddenly become healthy again (probably because it requires all 10 party members) after you lose or win that attempt (you cannot go back after you enter, so losing is faster, i recommend using 3 dummy miis in the postgame so you dont waste HP bananas) as far as i know this works on both 3DS and Switch and i am the only person i know who knows this and hope im not just unintentionally misleading people i cannot remember for the life of me when i figured this out but ive been using this exploit ever since and frankly im glad they never seemed to catch on during switch development of course, this doesnt mean the mechanic isnt still mind numbing
I just used some other mii for a while, and it was fine. I feel like people overblow this mechanic despite it being a minor inconvenience... No one dropped the game because of it, that's for sure!
@@SmashedTomatoes My first two teams were actual people I knew, and I was *INCREDIBLY* attached to my teams, When it got to the third team I was just like, “ok…I’ll just get my other teams back and never use this team again” 😂 I started getting sort of attached and then the dark lord took them I was just really annoyed.
I personally hated the sickness mechanic way more than my party resets, mainly because it was so random and you can’t control _any_ of your other party members. It’s such a bad piece of the game that I used to get frustrated and quit whenever my character would be sick. I mean c’mon, the game couldn’t let you appoint and control a new party leader while yours is down for the count? Having zero control over your group, especially post-game in certain areas, is easily the worst part of the entire experience. Honestly, Miitopia was such a good game that even when it was a 3DS release I didn’t have many complaints. This remains one of the few that still irk me.
3DS releases are SUPER solid in general tho, for such a little system, that thingy goes hard! I think sickness is bothersome and annoying, but it happens late enough in the game where I can let it slide. Maybe sickness is more common for other people? I got it like 3 times in my whole playthrough, and I did every level with golden flag + every mayor sidequest.
I don't think progress loss of the protagonist's first job is the worst, like at all. The worst mechanic would be sickness RNG, unlocked after defeating the Dark Lord.
My only issues with the game were the horrible methods of buying equipment being random, and not always guaranteed, the ability to create more heroes after the main game, starting them all at level crap, and the FUCKING screen that popped up like every 20 or so minutes asking if you wanted to keep going. Whoever thought that was cool should get a hard kick in the nuts! Other small improvements could have been not needing online to swap miis between users on your system in the mii library, and maybe manually being able to organize them. I have a collection of miis I try to keep organized by game series, and I constantly have to erase them and re-add them to keep the list organized.
Lol, the 20 minute screen is a nintendo thing, they do it for many games so you don't end up playing for 3 hours, because casual players usually do 30 minutes for each play session. I would have liked a level bonus on Miis who are behind, tbh, making new Miis after your initial 10 Mii party was always stupid.
@@MalikPlayz34 I mean, the combo of class + personality worked for me, but I'd love to have more personalities than you can have characters on a sequel, so that you're motivated to make more miis or replay the game later on
When I played through Miitopia, my plan through and through was to create new original characters (well, just for the party, the NPCs I left to the whims of the internet) to play with what I can come up with from the classes at hand. I didn't actually know about the kidnapping aspect, but it actually got me *more* invested in the creative aspect. It made me think, "who would live out in this desert?" or "what unusual characters would reside in a fairy's realm?" If anything, my first crew actually felt the most generic by consequence of this line of thinking, but I still like them equally. I guess for people who just throw random video game characters into every slot that would be more annoying for them but idk, it actually made me interested in fleshing them out beyond Miitopia. If anything actually annoyed me, it's that when you unlock the secret jobs, you don't really get an immediate opportunity to give them to new Miis, you just have to tack it onto someone you already have. And given that I sort of already established roles for them in my mind, I had no real interest in swapping them out at all.
I really liked it taking away my party members Or better explained I didn’t mind it and appreciated it later because it made getting more party members made sense and caused the endgame where you find them again to be really fun and I found the chance to actually be able to control more roles than the one that I initially picked was really nice The only big problem I had is because party members are going to have very limited relations so your going to just be using your first 4 on the final boss so it feels a lot less open in how you solve it
I can understand why people can get upset about their party getting kidnapped, but I didn't get that upset myself. I was personally *more* motivated to keep playing, because I wanted to save my friends... It did get old after the third time, so the Fey Realm group doesn't get quite as much love as the first or second groups, but that's kind of a meme in the community at this point.
Never seen anyone meme that "meme" specifically, tho I've seen a fair share of mentions for everyone having a specific group they neglected. I've seen people who were't interested too much in the game and got really into it, so their greenhorn team is lazy. People who got angry at the change so their neksdor team is lazy, and people who ran out of ideas so their Fey team is lazy.
"Makes you wonder why people call RPGs 'RPG Games' , which is like calling them 'Role Playing Game Games' which is like saying 'Naan bread' which is really saying 'bread bread' which is like saying 'chai tea'"
Only thing that stopped me from completing the game the first time was I didn’t realise I’d need to level up all my party for the final boss. Managed to replay it fully a few months later though
If I were to fix the main problem of the player character being forced to switch classes, I would make something like a skill tree, where basically after a certain level and you change class, you can get something from the previous class that always carries over.
Yeah, I'd make an homunculus class, kinda like how persona games let the main character have any skill after getting the creature that lets them use it.
I remember getting so mad when my first team was Miinapped- mainly because I'd spent so many Jolly Jaunt tickets on one character that we were level 20-something from the demo alone
I actually think this is a pretty neat concept Imo the problem isn't that the party changes, it's more that it kinda feels like you're doing the exact same thing three times in a row This could've been solved with implementing some actual different game mechanics after the first part
Yup! the mechanic itself is good, actually makes the lategame much better, but the execution is pretty bad. I feel like world 3 has the fairy sisters accompany you, so it feels a little different at least.
I really liked the level and class wipes, It felt fresh to be able to choose a new class and a new party, and also motivated me to save my old party. It gives me the feeling of starting a new game without having to wipe all progress! Guess not everyone liked it though...
I thought it was fascinating when the party members were kidnapped. I’d never seen something like that done in an rpg. It was terrifying and incredible, I loved it and wish more games did something like it.
The stolen party thing, while annoying, isn’t the part that makes me quit often. The worst part for me is the quests after beating the dark lord for the first time. Knowing I have to do a bunch of random quests to even UNLOCK the other quests to get the jewels to THEN have to climb the tower with the boss rush. It’s just super draining to me, as someone who just HAS to get the gold flag in every level.
I think the whole reason this mechanic never bothered me is because I saw it coming due to HOW I came to know the game to begin with. I watched people like Alpharad’s and Space Hamster’s videos on the game which showed the team getting snatched.
The only thing that really bothered me about this game was that it ended (I played it too fast). I was so obsessed with it that I beat every single boss fight, no problem, on my first try. I don't even remember dying once in the main storyline. Not until I reached New Lumos and Galados Isle. Miitopia will forever be my favorite silly rpg game and a huge comfort of mine.
Yes, I've found my people!! I have a hyperfixation on Miitopia, I loved both versions of it! Was it weird that none of these mechanics bothered me? I thought it made the game interesting, also I loved seeing all my ocs in different shenanigans! Also there should be Tomodachi life for the switch!
Not weird at all! I do sell it as the worst mechanic, but Miitopia is just overall incredibly fun. Maybe it bothered you the first time, I know it bothered me! Although very little hehehe.
I personally think miitopia’s complete lack of tactical JRPG mechanics works to its favour. Basically all of the stakes in game are determined by some sort of RNG, which makes it fun since the game doesn’t take itself very seriously. It’s super exciting when one of your energetic party members endures three attacks in a row and clutches up the battle. The whole ‘reset’ thing that happens after a story arc is also one of my favourite things about it because it gives you the chance to play with several different playstyles and adds more members to your party while making it clear that your lost party members will eventually return. The part in Karkaton where you have to rescue each of your companions as you approach the Dark Lord is so satisfying!
I mean I get happy when that happens. You get new jobs, have opportunities to add your friends or ever you grandpa! I just get to make more miis! My favorite thing to do!
I can't deny I would have loved to have medicine in the switch version, even if it's expensive, would have been nice to unlock something that avoids that random penalty if you don't want it, particularly in the post game.
I enjoy the wackiness of limited control of the party for the most part, but the thing that really buns me out is the inability to switch who your main mii hero is past the main game. I was happy to use them throughout the main story, but in the post-game I really wanted to control one other party member. Like, they couldnt even let you choose which single mii you get to control. 😔
Honestly even as a VERRY young child (I’m pretty sure I had the og game actually) I was like “SERIOUSLY? AGAIN?” After the third time I also definitely remember running out of character ideas at that point too lmfaoo
honestly, the mechanic was super annoying whenever it happened ingame (i was just salty and didn’t wanna grind for like four hours each time) but it was also the only thing that helped me see how useful the other classes were and build a team I wanted, so it wasn’t entirely bad for me!!
Miitopia is a perfect game, im currently trying to 100% it, and I love it because it’s so much grinding, SO MUCH CONTENT Also any of the upsetting features didn’t deter me since I already knew about them and got into the game very much not blind in the slightest Still my favorite game now, sharing a spot with one other game (which is drastically different in tone lol)
@@SmashedTomatoes that’s the shiz I like 😈 my only problem is coming up with characters to use for the jobs I don’t have yet.. Yeah, that’s my only problem
Honestly I never used the horse. Idk maybe it’s just me, but the limited customization, plus the trivializing difficulty thing just really turned me off. I’m sure it’s the coolest thing in the world for the people playing that have at least one horse, and maybe if there was like a couple different ‘pets’ I’d be more open to it, but I just couldn’t get attached to the horse even after a while
I kinda agree. Like, the horse is cool for the purpose I mention in the video, but I'd rather they had gone with some of the other potential fixes. The horse is just alright and since it's just a horse, it just feels tacked on. You can put a mii in their spot, it's just lame
I think the reason they reset the player is because the actual levels in the games don’t go that high, I think it’s up to 50. Also, move-pools usually stop in the 20 to 30 range, so you’d basically have a complete character early on in the game, maybe even a complete party. Then you play through the rest of the game gaining no new moves, except probably new armor and weapons, but those just give you more attack and defense. I can understand the uncontrollable party annoying, but the game is built to be chaotic and wacky. Sometimes it’s more fun to just sit back and enjoy the show.
I personally really liked how they reset your character and give you a new party. Yes, it got a little old by the third time, but with Miitopia it really gives you a lot of options to try new things an introduce new characters to the story (its basically a fan-fiction simulator). Miitopia's only real problem is just how freaking _long_ the game is. All of these issues wouldn't really be issues if they didn't give you _so much time_ to get annoyed by them.
I thought the game was PERFECT in lenght! I really enjoyed the experience, even with all the nooks and crannies.
I would honestly have been pretty disappointed if the game were much shorter, the main story and post game content Is great
@@mouthwaterin Maybe in a first playthrough... But its so repetitive that replaying the game makes it a total slog to get through.
Switch version is much less long than 3ds version
@@JDJG3493 I've never played the 3ds version, I'm talking about the Switch version.
I think that the not controlling your party mechanic could’ve been solved with the trust mechanic. Have it so if your MC becomes great friends with someone you can control them in turns. This would give a further incentive to building friendships with miis. I don’t really know what would happen for non MC miis getting along, maybe it would make ai smarter is something, or just keep the adding attacks for friendship mechanic.
I do think it would have been a neat mechanic if you could instruct them some times at least. Even if it's just occasionally. Regardless, I currently prefer the system that's already in the game. I had a blast working with it, even if the AI fucks around a lot X3
I like the idea of them trusting them MC enough to follow their orders. Also it would allow for crazy ability combos.
@@SmashedTomatoes I personally prefer all control to be more strategic but given the overall game tone to be funnier and lighter I can see why shenaniganery trumps strategic thinking.
It would be cool if the chance of choosing their move increased every level. Starting at 1% and ending at 100% at 99 friendship
This vid kinda jogged my memory on why first stopped playing Miitopia. When all my party members were kidnapped and my job taken away (4 the second time) I claimed it was bad writing and bad game design but tbh i only said that cause I was angry
Hella! I've seen many people drop the game thinking this because of the communication issue. I recommend you give it another go, now that you know. It's incredibly fun!
@@SmashedTomatoes actually I finished it somewhere last year in 2023
@@ry-lazer4328 What do you mean the Matt lore isn't supposed to be taken seriously, you infidel?
@@ry-lazer4328 I can’t believe anyone would think that
@@ry-lazer4328 You mean my weird-ass fanfiction where Kenny from South Park gets possessed by Doug Louis in a game of face off and so 4 other dudes have to beat the ever loving shit out of him to set him free of his mortal coils?
I feel like automatic teammates only works in the main story. After beating the main game, the game should let us manually control all party members (especially because the MC can fall ill in the post-game, meaning you're left with absolutely no control over your party temporarily). That said, the post-game would need to be designed around manual control and thus probably would need to be harder.
Another complaint I have is that it's just really annoying to get new party members created in the post-game up to the level of your main story party members. It sort of deters me from wanting to take advantage of the post-game villa.
Yup, I agree on the second point. I like the first cuz it really enhances the feeling of a D&D campaign or actually going on a trip with friends. You have to strategize around unpredictability, which makes the game more fun due to having mostly simplistic mechanics.
I wish the post game let you level up miis faster as well tho, I'd love to have a big 4 Mii room at the inn for miis to grow their relationship faster, as well as them getting some sort of XP boost when other miis in the team are higher level...
@@SmashedTomatoes would also like the inn itself to be able to hold 14 party members in postgame, since there's 14 jobs in miitopia. with 10 slots, you're forced to keep 4 party members in the villa, which is really annoying if you ever want to use them
The second one is so true! I’m trying to level up a new character so I go to, say, Neksdor, because that’s the second area so it’s not deadly but it’s not that hard but then once the character gets to the level where they would be out of Neksdor and then for some reason every other zone either give a garbage amount of EXP or kill everybody, even the high-level Mii’s
Is the team-wiping because I don’t feed them a proper diet specialized specifically for each character to maximize their useful stat gains? Maybe. But it still sucks
I think we should be given a choice overall if we want our teammates to be auto controlled, or manually. Luckily for people with modded switches, they already made a mod for that. The bright side is that the AI is actually for the most part smart in the strategies they use to do battles. At least for me. I never had an issue where any of my teammates spammed or used a stupid move, minus the jobs that had crappy moves like the pop-stars, which is kinda understandable lol
The MC getting sick is just a reset for me every time it happens. Not worth the hassle.
I actually liked the idea of forcing you to make more party members, so I didn't get bored of the one's I'd been with, and then rescuing them all and seeing them meet eachother was a solid payoff. Same goes for resetting the main character's class, forcing me to try out a new one, instead of getting comfortable sticking with the same thing the whole game.
But wouldn't it be cooler if your main character was like... an humunculi of all the classes you picked through your journey? That'd go SOOOOO hard for me.
Honestly, I agree. I didn’t really hate it.
@@SmashedTomatoes That would've honestly been better, but I figure it would cause balancing issues. So maybe a class switch mechanic would be better.
In my past jobs I was a chef and a cat but now I'm a level 36 scientist
I agree, but I can definitely see why people are annoyed by it.
here's the thing. for what miitopia does with it, I LOVE how miitopia takes away your party, it forces players to try the new classes(and the ones missed out on previously), and get a feel for 9 different party members to fully get a chance to decide what playstyle is best for them. kinda like tough love
Yup! As I say in the video: The problem is execution, rather than concept. If framed right, people would not mind at all!
As someone who beat the 3ds version and in the end game for the switch port, I feel like the way they take your party’s away is because they want you to make more members so you don’t just have the same 4 the entire game. And plus you get them back during karkaton so it’s just a temporary loss. Unless you don’t have any good ideas for new characters I suppose that’s why you would end up leaving the game, but the rewards you can find after the first half of the game are what makes the game actually fun. So when you lose your original party don’t just think it’s bad game design, it’s just the developers wanting you to make more members.
The problem is HOW the communicate that the loss is temporary. Plays don't know they'll get their party back, so even if it has good purpose for late game stuff, it ends up making players in the early game quit. I go over it on the video
@@SmashedTomatoesI disagree. They show where the characters went, and especially after the second party kidnapping, it's pretty clear that you'll see them again. Otherwise, you wouldn't be seeing them in a cutscene, would you?
@@SmashedTomatoesdon’t forget, there are cutscenes showing your teammates in that pit (or something-), and they (i think) talk abt how the main character will rescue them someday, which kind of hints that it is possible to get them back.
For me it’s just that I made the main 4 my ocs that I always draw. But I don’t have more than 4 ocs at the moment and it felt dumb to have less meaningful characters in place of them after having the impression that I was going to be having these main 4 for the game
I just want my silly ocs to keep going together, but with this I’d have to insert characters that I inevitably do not care about as much as my ocs and then when I actually get my ocs back I’ll just only use my main 4 ocs and never anyone else (not to mention I was attached to the idea that the main one was a warrior and then none of the other jobs felt like it fit him at all)
But I have a solution: I just won’t use my already existing ocs when I come back to this game some day. I’ll make new little characters that I’ve never made before so that when I lose them, they’ll be on the same level of “importance” in my head as the new ones I’ll keep making when I lose them (hopefully that made sense lol)
That's honestly a general problem with RPGs where characters level up individually and you can't have everyone at once. You probably want to encourage players to use as many characters as possible and if you have a player who has 4 characters they like why add extra? This is doubly so if the player has the final boss which requires all 10 teammates to fight. I don't see how else this can be done.
I'm surprised people dislike this part, I went into that part completely blind and if anything, it was probably the moment I went from thinking of Miitopia as a pretty cool game to an amazing game. It gave me an incentive to keep going and while I wasn't as attached to the Neksdor team, it only made my bond with the realm of fey team even tighter since I didn't want to let them go only making the rush to Karkaton much more impactful.
Though honestly my biggest problems with the game has to be the fact that you have very little control of your teammates (Even in the post game) and the sickness mechanics just being a plain pest, maybe if it were much more based around characters who are used too much or the highest level team members then it could be better.
That just means you got the memo that losing your party was temporary, or it simply appealed to you. I've seen so many people lose interest in the game from this.
Bit late, but if anyone sees this, keep in mind that recovering from sickness depends on the sick person's level and the amount of exp earnt by the team on the field. If they are all the same level, it should take 2-3 trips, assuming you're fighting on-level enemies. This makes leveling up much less of a problem, but seriously though, being unable to control the party when you're away is pretty sad
My biggest gripe is with Neksdor as it feels oddly underwhelming compared to the world before and after it.
The illness mechanic is one of the stupidest things in the game because realistically using all of your party evenly would still leave you underleveled for the final postgame area
Idk why they didn't just have some sortof exp share or simply just let people use who they wanted
Got thru the entire game's shenanigans of stripping you of your party yet it's still trying to take them. I've beaten the 3ds version twice and it still irks me
I like the sickness mechanic, makes the game more interesting by changing stuff up for a bit.
Hate it when your main character gets sick tho
@@SmashedTomatoes I actually noticed something weird with that! I wanted to use my weaker teammates to get their lvl up (since I have one party I use the most) but I saw I couldn’t let the MC stay, at post game, I only could after he got sick for the first time
Weird right
i never actually play the postgame because of the illness mechanic honestly, i really wish our whole party could get exp at once so it was more managable
For a game that wants you to make use of everyone having one maxed team is the way to go unfortunately. I genuinely tried using everyone in my switch run for a bit but defaulted back to one team (with a back up for the split up sections) because it was just more inconvenient for little pay off.
It already feels handicapping enough just trying to get your very first party member caught back up after how long they've been gone and with them being the very last to come back.
The sickness mechanic is awful, I love the game otherwise and am perfectly fine with the two party resets
10:57 "I've got my favorite clothes on today!"
"A likely story..."
Cuts to them about to fight.
I like how perfectly lined up that is.
Yeah, and while I'm talking about the feel going in a different direction lol.
The reason getting my team members stolen worked was because it was integrated into the story. Even having my in-game Mii hating that by the 3rd time it happened. The sickness mechanic doesn't work not only because it halts the pace completely, but also because it's never mentioned in-game. It's not an in-universe thing like capturing team members was. It sort of pops up and now you have to deal with it for the rest of the game. I could see Powdered Peaks getting people sick, but not the rest of the worlds. They are too outlandish for that kind of concept.
While I do think sickness could be executed better, I don't think anyone dropped the game because of it. The story integration for the miinappings is not nearly sufficient to feel necessary.
@@SmashedTomatoes It's funny, then. Since it's the opposite for me. I didn't mind when the Dark Lord took away my party but whenever a Team Member I was using got sick, I almost quit because of that. *Almost*
I know now that sickness is based on how much EXP you collect, but still. It's quite the pace breaker for me compared to everything else in the game.
@@SmashedTomatoes I dropped the game because of it
It's a really good mechanic when you know about it, but it's an awful mechanic when its a suprize. The mechanic is a great way to let you trial all jobs from level one, and have more miis. Of course, however, it has all the issues mentioned in this video
I watched failboat's series of the original game before getting the switch version (released shortly after I finished watching the streams), and I had a heck of a time with it, in that I could plan around it. The thing about Fail's origional playthrough, though, is that he lost interest in his miis made in neksdor and beyond, because he was stuck wanting his old party back that he was prepared to spend the whole game with.
Yup! I actually made this video after watching 3 of my favorite let's players drop the game before getting to the 2nd half. Even people who want to continue playing it got fed up with it. I found failboat's series during research and it really contrasts so much with tomodachi life let's plays, where people manage to care about the dynamic of 30-80 miis.
I wonder what a Miitopia 2 could be like with some of the more controversial aspects in mind and possibly changed up.
I absolutely hated that I wasn’t warned that my job was being switched for the last time. And during that last time you’re stuck as that job for probably the longest length. During that time I chose tank as a joke and it is by far the worst decision I’ve ever made.
Oh, you poor creature.
That must have been fun!
I was already decently leveled as an Imp during the last job switch, and I was a Tank in the Realm of the Fey, so from Karkaton onwards, I still went with the Imp because it was insanely fun!
TRUE I PICKED TANK TOO😭 my first 2 choices were pretty good but then it all went downhill with the Tank. I was so glad they let you switch back, I ended up keeping the Cat
Dude I picked flower to try it out cuz it was my first time and when I figured out I was stuck with it I literally cried 😭 then again i was 8
I didn’t mind that miinaping mechanic because I knew I’d get them back even though It was inconvenient, then again a level 30 jack skellington oneshotting the dark lord wouldn’t be very riveting gameplay.
Same here, plus getting to rescue my friends felt even more rewarding
Fun fact: When I first played the game blind(and yes miinapping made me very upset and I spent the whole time wishing I had the first team), I thought the game ended at the time you beat the Dark Lord. I thought the Darker Lord was the postgame or teasing a sequel.
And by the time I found out that it wasn't, I was too out of the loop to have the motivation to play it again outside of just making the Miis with makeup.
Damn, that sucks. The second half of the game is some of my favorite stuff! Cooler worlds and faster phase, plus the addition of non-linear elements, I enjoyed it very much.
Wait, the darker lord isn't post game? Guess it's time to find my 3ds!
(laughs in new lumos)
Online Multiplayer would work REALLY WELL in a game like Miitopia. You can team up with people around the world and you fight together, each controlling your own Mii. Local Multiplayer would work well in regards to this too.
Lol, yeah! It could be cool to see how that'd work, it could be super fun.
I liked this mechanic only because in the switch version it allowed me to interact with the insane mii maker more. Also it forced me to actually use the new classes as they came up.
I think that's more a matter of the mii maker being more enjoyable for you than on the mechanic not having issues.
And I admit, fair is fair.
I feel like Miitopia is a game that gives back what you put into it. I used a lot of my favorite characters for the roles, so I came to be very attached to them. When the Dark Lord took away my teammates, I was genuinely sad, and determined to get them back. Without that personal connection that I had, I can easily imagine why this part of the game would be frustrating.
That said, it frustrates me indirectly because the Darker Lord plot twist is easily my favorite part of the game, and I wish more people got to see it, lol.
Fully agree on the second part! It was awesome seeing the game justify why one of your most "pure" roles becomes evil. It made it so the bad guy isn't just a bad guy, ya know?
There is a problem with putting all your favourites in Greenhorne, in that you might not have many favourites left for the rest of the party members.
for me personally, I tend to play Miitopia way less than I used to because of how monotone it gets. After beating the game several times at this point, I finally decided to start a 100% save file. The only problem? How long it takes you to get there. Even the most strategical, smart Miitopia players will take months and sometimes years to 100% this game (mainly because of the achievements of levelling up one character and buying every weapon/armour for them) and the amount of motivation it took turned it into a chore for me to play. I can tell the grind is necessary but for a game like this where your grind is evenly spread out across the main campaign, the second part of the game - a.k.a returning to the traveller's hub for the 1000th time - is the other 80% of the chore list.
tldr good game but i blame the huge level scaling for making it uncompletable for casual players
Yup! I remember that I decided against it when I saw the achievements. I just did the tower in new lumus and called it good enough.
The miinaping mechanic could have executed better, you're right. I've beaten the game 5 times but I always end up using my party members from the original team (greenhorne), partially because it's usually people i'm the most "attached to", and mainly because they're the strongest, original one. i rarely use my other mii's, only if one of my main party miis is sick or if i need a certain job.
also the sickness mechanic- i kinda hate it bc it DOESN'T WORK AS INTENDEDD!!! it doesn't make you use other miis because the ones that get sick are the ones you already don't use!
I remember I used that team as well my first time around, but I had stuck with the scientist job instead of warrior. Honestly, this game is a lot about what you make of it, so it can work either way!
The mechanic that makes you use other miis is usually the one where they split them, which are some of my favorite times in the game.
I agree with being more attached to the party from Greenhorne, but once I got all of my Miis back, only 1 of them ended up making it into my final party. By that time I knew what classes were good and bad, and the party members from Greenhorne didn't have them, because they weren't unlocked by then. So it kind of made me want to use my party members from Neksdor and Realm of the Fey more
Honestly it kinda fits in this game. I never found myself frustrated; Moreso surprised that the villain was actually SMART. Not only that but the game is tailored around the fact that you're going to be a lot less powerful when you lose your members so it balances its enemies around it but not too much as it knows that you know the combat system at this point. It adds some tension and it gasses you up to beat this guy who stole your friends, and it even plays into the final fight. They cooked with this one, and it tasted great.
Yeah, they cooked, It's just that some players felt like their where in the middle of the amuse buche, got their plate removed and couldn't get past the actual appetizer because they really liked the amuse bouche. But what they don't know is that the entre is incredible and amazing.
I actually kind like how you can’t control your other party members because you *aren’t them*. The game is presented as a play, and they have their own scripts. When you look at normal RPGs, the MC is normally presented as the leader. The one who calls the shots. But in Miitopia, you are not a leader. The game even confirms this by giving the credit for the battle to whoever does the finishing blow to the last enemy. You are equals, and thus, you don’t control anyone but yourself. But that’s just my take.
I mean, that's what I say basically, I love that mechanic, particularly for a miitopia like game where half the fun is seeing them do stuff you don't want them to do.
miitopia is one of the most unique games i've ever played, i haven't seen anything like it at all after playing. the artstyle, the gameplay, the plot twist which made an already long game even longer, it's a very good game!
Underrated for sure! Mii games get to be super creative sometimes, and I feel like people don't appreciate them enough.
I remember it taking me by surprise when I first reached Neksdor, and scrambling to find characters. I still persisted because I still really liked my protag and horse, but it was definitely kind of awkward coming up with new characters on-the-spot like that.
Thankfully I suspected it'd happen again in the Realm of the Fey, and really enjoyed making my third party. Sadly that means that my second party is very much the one I personally found least memorable, but I still enjoyed trying out different job combos (and discovering that a duo of Cleric and Pop Star is practically impossible to lose with; I already knew from my first party that Pop Star was busted, but add Cleric and suddenly no one dies, like, ever lol).
I did *kinda* have advance warning from my sister (who played the 3DS version before) that I probably won't keep my first team the entire way, but the "how" and "when" still took me by surprise.
Huh, yeah. I do like that the mechanic lets you explore other classes! It surprises most people, but those who stick around are greatly rewarded!
10:38 I feel even this simple “HELP!” graphic would definitely encourage so many people to continue on and try to save their party. I personally do like the reset, as it allows you to create a whole new dynamic with new Jobs/team members, though I do wish there was some sort of system that made it clearer that you’ll get those party member back so you don’t choose the same Jobs as your previous party had. I don’t think they should lock you out of it entirely but something like a pop-up message saying “a previous party member already had this Job, and there’s a chance to rescue them. Do you wish to continue?”
Oh yeah, I didn't even think about that but that woulda been a great addition too!
@@SmashedTomatoes I just wish that when your party got taken away they didn't take away your job or let you pick a new job. That way you could experiment or keep it. That only happening the third time is kinda bogus.
I was fortunate enough to know the Miinaping was coming, but to someone just picking it up and having their progress and team wiped out of nowhere is a major kick in the nuts for a lot of people that are invested in their party and the class they picked. Like you said it could have been a neat and fun mechanic if done right, but the way they did just made it feel like "Hey, you having fun? Well stop it and have fun a different way now."
I'm glag I'm not the only one who finds the lizards hot XD
Granted, I am biased.
Lizardaddy
Same here, I am a creature of sin
@@SmashedTomatoes Isn't that kind of the point of liking something? That you're biased for it?
Although I don't mind the mechanics for this game, I have this idea of resetting the team by having your original Mii leader and the first two other miis be kidnapped, so now you have the chance to play as the last mii to join your team with a different job.
That could work, but that'd take away from the feeling they wanted to achieve where you're just part of a team, rather than the leader. You have no control over your party because they are supposed to be your friends, not your units, if you know what I mean.
For me the repetition when you get new party members never really bothered me. The games humor through the faces that get put on the bosses always excites me whenever I get to a new area.
Just the faces? I think the game's humor was a constant hit for me, I regularly only laugh as much playing comedy games like jazzpunk and such. Tomodachi and Miitopia just found their way to be that while not being strictly comedy games.
@SmashedTomatoes oh yeah the humor definetely. But I've played through the games so many times the humor nowadays comes through the faces most of the time. But I still get some funny moments from some of my dumber teams
I like the mechanic of losing your party as you enter a new land, it helps you actually get to experience each role and use new miis. I never found it infuriating because I always thought of the game as just an imaginative stage play that’s supposed to be wacky
Yeah, as I said, the mechanic is good for the lategame and stuff, it's just poorly communicated that you'll get em back, or how you can do it and stuff.
Bro I got so flashbanged by my miis at 11:37 💀I was like “wait I know those guys”
But yeah while I personally liked the party resets I can see why they’d be so discouraging. Combined with how difficult and slow leveling can get, making you pick new jobs doesn’t feel worth it when you already had a high-level one
hahahaha, you do know them. Thanks for the footage, it was very useful. :3
At least the leveling is permanent for the job and you can pick it up later, tho I know some people aren't fans of grinding in this game
@@SmashedTomatoes fr it took me months to get everything 100%, especially since I realized that monsters only spawn at specific levels MONTHS after I started going for 100% 😭👍
I've beaten Miitopia well over 20 times so I think I can give a review on this.
First of all, uncontrollable parties. I can see why people would be mad that they can't control their teammates but I can assure you its not as bad as other RPGS that do not let you control their party (like Persona 3). Miitopia overall is not a hard game until you get to the post game areas, so people should not complain too much about it. And I guess the A.I can be bad, but either way your main character is more then strong enough to handle it.
Second, the dark lord taking your teammates. Why is this something people are mad about? Are you serious? Miitopia has so many job choices and only 4 team slots. AND THE WHOLE POINT OF THE GAME IS TO PICK MIIS THAT YOU LIKE AND FIT THE JOBS. Also, one of the best parts of the game is rescuing your teammates in Karkaton, so it makes it all worth it. And your progress is not lost and it all balances out in the end, so I think this is a very dumb reason to quit.
Personally, the only thing I hate from my 600 hours with miitopia is the sickness mechanic in the second half of the game. Just don't quit Miitopia. It's an amazing game.
As I said in the video, the mechanic has so many lategame advantages that I don't think the game works without it, hence why I also never suggest outright removing it.
But also, of course this mechanic is not an issue for you if you have beat the game 20 times! New players are the focus here, because they don't know fundamental information that you'll bat no eye to on a second playthrough.
the reason I stopped giving the other party members foods is because they just leave and made it so my main mii just ate everything. I just felt like it was wasted on the other members because they would just be taken anyway.
I mean, you get far too much food to feed only your character, it gets full after a few dishes, and you'd easily stockpile if you didn't feed the rest of the team.
That said, I prioritize my main character's grub too.
I’ve played Miitopia too many times. I wish for direct control of my party and Persona style gameplay. that’s all. The Dark Lord miinaping party members is fun because I make new strategic teams depending on each section of the main story. Then, I mix and match certain members for the other worlds
You got it! The idea is fun, if they had executed it better so players would not be bothered by the miinaping, I think more people woulda progressed into karkaton.
The main thing I despise about sickness is when it happens to the Protagonist. You’re getting all control of the game taken away from you besides safe spot and sprinkles management. At least in battles with protag you have at least one person you can strategize around, but once protag gets the sniffles you’re on autopilot until you grind out exp with your non sick party members. And then another party member also gets sick so you have to now grind exp for them. Sickness would be better if: Protagonist wasn’t able to get sick even during post game, and you couldn’t have more than one sick Mii at the same time.
Other than that, god would Miitopia feel so much better if after a certain point party members became controllable.
I still stand by the fact this game is peak fiction though.
I don't find sickness that bad, did you play the Switch version or the 3DS one? I got sick like 4 or 5 times in my whole playthrough!
@@SmashedTomatoes both, and I just happen to get really unlucky with sickness chances.
I just hate that you have to pay to have access to miis I remember being able to go online and scan a quirky little code
Yup! This is actually one of the reasons why I didn't buy the switch port. There's an extra cost to getting that instead of using codes.
And the thing is, this doesn’t really make you use your other miis in the long run
Most players (including me) immediately switch back to using their greenhorne team the moment they get them back, so it’s really just a nuisance to players
Some players DO enjoy using their other party members, but It's definitely not as good a system as what Persona and FF10 do.
I personally never realized that this was a problem. It didn't make me quit at all. Instead I was really curious as to where the story was gonna go, because I sure as heck didn't expect that.
It pulled the rug from under me in a way that I never expected, since it's something that never happens in typical RPGs.
To me it was a good way to subvert expectations from RPG mechanics, and to add freshness to the experience by making a new party instead of keeping the same one throughout the entire game.
Yeah! There's a specific player type that didn't mind the change at all, and most players aren't exactly bothered by it that much, but I can see some players going :c when it happens.
@@SmashedTomatoes Well maybe I did go :c at first, but not to a point where it made me quit or even just take a break from the game.
A *really* good game's example of this "non-controllable characters," is oddly the Tales Of series. As a massive Tales of Symphonia fan, I know that firsthand you have to work with teammates doing their own thing: spells and attacks. But, in that game compared to Miitopia, you can at least direct them from time to time with menu actions, have them use items for you while you're busy beating up a boss, and even switch the first character in the party to let *you* control them. It reminds me of how that game is much more flexible with strategy and Miitopia is more so a "watch the game with little influence." There's a reason why they added an "auto-fight" button.
And while Tales of Symponia never removes your stuff, they can still hinder you with great roadblocks and spikes in difficulty. Miitopia feels like they just said "what if we did it, but AGAIN?" and it really pushes the mindset that really, your progress never mattered until the endgame. Demoralizes the work you do, a lot.
Loving the video (so far) and off the bat I'm loving how this looks!
Hehehe, thanks!
I should play tales of, but they are long and I don't have that much time. Miitopia is a VERY beginner friendly RPG, I think almost any RPG has more strategy and tactical play than it, and it's purposefully like that so new players and casuals can get into the genre. that comes with possitives and negatives, but I honestly just really enjoy the game's basic strategy as is.
When you're not working with a Flower, the AI feels predictable enough to have a bit strategy, but random enough to be exciting, at least to me.
I remember my first time playing Miitopia (Switch) and when I lost my party when entering nektdor after I did all that work grinding and exploring, I rage quit; mostly because I didn’t think I was gonna need more miis but also because I freaking loved my party
LOOK GUYS I'M NOT INSANE I SWEARRRR!!!
I honestly liked the idea that every world for the first 3 worlds you lost your party members and the first 2, you lost your class. Story wise, as the Dark Lord flees East it is like they are getting revenge for you stopping them. Seeing how you will do without your friends and your "powers". But it is also a fun way to introduce new classes instead of locking every one of them behind a charm. I like the idea as it also helps with the achievements slighly where you need to get to set levels for each class. It also inspires you to try something new instead of sweeping through everything, plus it fills in all the slots in the inn.
I do like your idea of the sandstorm causing us to meet the first ally in Neksdor as it was such a huge missed oppurtunity. I honestly wished most party members had a cutscene of sorts where they showed up. Like what if Ally 2 was with the Great Sage for awhile but the G.S persuades them to join your team and the G.S tells you to take care of Member 3.
Maybe an ally in Neksdor could have caught the prince with the lamp and they were a bystander but took the lamp to give to the party or something. So it isn't like they just showed up, as like how would they know which Inn to go to out of all the hundreds of inns? Plus it could kinda add more to the story or can just be headcanons.
Ally 1 joins you because you need help
Ally 2 joins you before you meet Great Sage - So why not they were traveling with them
Ally 3 joins you when you defeat a boss(?) - Perhaps they could join you before the battle, your team seeing it could be a tough battle or they are found in a level fending off monsters alone
Ally 4 - I like your idea that they join you when you get lost in a sandstorm (a big huge missed oppurtunity)
Ally 5 - They could be where the prince is when they got the lamp and are the one who gives it to you-So basically prince cutscene but changed.
Ally 6 - Could be passed out from traveling the desert but when you set camp and help them they join you.
Ally 7 - You get lost in the ROTF- Basically Fae Wilds magic stuff, but this ally comes in and guides you through the ROTF.
Ally 8 - Could have been a traveler who got closed in the retreat or stayed there to recover from an attack from the DL and they join you
Ally 9 - Final ally originally found when you make it to Bigg Forest. I personally feel they should have been found a TINY bit earlier since like they come in so late they get one shotted. Perhaps you could find them in Citrus Cave? If to early still maybe after the spider boss? For story purpose, perhaps they went off to go find the Mid Fab Fairy on there own or even tried to go get the Eldest Fab Fairy (Could explain why they were in Bigg Forest). But if we go the EFF route, perhaps they could have been stopped by like a miniboss and you fight them off along with A9? Perhaps could also give them extra EXP so they won't die off.
Those are neat ideas that would certainly bring more fun times to players! But maybe they didn't find a way to make it clear those characters would be your party members unless they broke the 4th wall or something, so they couldn't really go for that system...
I woulda liked SOMETHING like it tho, maybe for a (extremely unlikely) sequel?
Yeah, this mechanic was.... Not fun. I actually got spoiled on it before it happened. And planned my playthrough around it....
Though, I wouldn't say this is the worst mechanic. Personally, despite the "comedy". I kinda hate how petty the Miis are. Like, they get mad at each other for the STUPIDEST reasons sometimes.
But, the WORST mechanic is the sickness one... random RNG deciding to take a party member out of the running for a good while. Including the MAIN CHARACTER in post game. I really wish they had let you change the party leader in post game at least.
The dumbest thing of all is, it literally is RNG based. Since you can see who got sick, reset before hitting A again. Then beat that level again. Either someone else will be sick. Or no one at all will be.
Such a dumb mechanic....
I feel like it's a good way to avoid you getting to use the same team all the time, and worse case scenario you die and get sent back to the inn with your mii now healed. No one outright dropped the game over it.
@SmashedTomatoes Problem is. It normally doesn't even target Miis you overuse. Usually, the ones who get sick are ones you need to use more because they're under leveled.
@@SmashedTomatoes a youtuber said you can go and fight the darker lord to bypass it
This was actually my favorite mechanic in miitopia. It forces the player to think a little more creatively and make a different team than they were used to that was just as functional, and the extra jobs introduced is just the icing on the cake. Real worst mechanic is the illness. At some point in the game (after you beat the dark lord?) your miis have a chance to fall ill, unable to battle for an extended duration. This is likely to force the player to use more of their party late game. Maybe it’s because I’m salty or something but I think this mechanic is unfun.
That is actually what most fans have said. As I said, it's a great mechanic in the lategame but the early game may surprise new players
@@SmashedTomatoes that makes sense. It was definitely frustrating at first but in the end there’s something so refreshing about miitopia. It’s a nice change of pace from your standard rpg.
game: puts a minor sitback to the player
the player: nah screw this game never playing again!
bruh
New players have no idea how minor the setback is due to the bad framing, more so when the very next part is just a repeat of the progress you already made. Players make quick and harsh decisions a lot of the times so it's important to make them feel comfortable with the design.
So, way back in 2018 when I played for the first time and got through the end of the starting area, I was starting to feel a bit bored, like, I saved the princess, all my party members are in good levels and have good gear, so… now what?
But the game throws a curve ball and takes all of those things and I found it an amazing idea, it felt fresh.
I know it's a bit silly, but this was the moment I stopped liking Miitopia to start to love Miitopia.
And this pays off when you get to the lava world and have to rescue your friends in a different order, it keeps your party new and lets you experiment more.
What makes the progress reset mechanic work, in my eyes, is how Miitopia balances the difficulty to account for how you're starting back at square one. It's because your character is alone (And no, I am not counting the Horse, as I've only played the 3DS version.) and stripped of the job class option you had before... As this game depends leveling up on the job classes, not on the characters themselves. And the enemies are significantly less difficult, because if it was progressing as normal, there would be no way you could work your way back up, even if you met new party members that way, because THEY start at square one, too!
The real problems I have with the game are three things: 1. The automatic battle system. Generally it's a lot of fun, and most battles are fair enough for luck to be in and out of your favor (Except for the bosses that either use RNG, being the tomato triplets, or force you to wait a turn because of a useless NPC party member, like my least favorite battle in the game, the Cerberus battle with the Foreign Prince.). But when it gets in your way, it shows... The final boss battle in particular is an example of this, as since you only control your lookalike, you have to choose which part of the Darker Dark Lord's body that you will attack with your teammates, and which one your teammates will have to face without you. And even then, at least you can use those sprinkles to accommodate your lack of control over their actions. 2. Outside of the mechanic reset sections, the creation of new Miis that aren't given to you in the narrative during the main or post game suffer from that same mechanic reset. They have to start from square one, even if the rest of your party is maxed out, making them essentially useless that late in the game. And also, changing your job class when the game doesn't require you to, resets your progress as well. I guess the idea is that you're supposed to form a connection with the job class you selected at the beginning and the first mechanic reset, but otherwise, I find it stupid and harsh. 3. The innuendos...are rather questionable here. The friendship mechanic? Established through hearts, which some have pointed out in the official Miitopia Discord server to be rather suggestive. Hearts in the eyes are symbolic of falling in love with someone, and that's not what friendship is by default. Platonic love is never represented that way, outside of Miitopia. And as for the Twerkey... No. Just no. That thing is as demographically inappropriate as you can get, considering what twerking actually is... And the fact that the turkey's Mii face is on its ass makes it all the more abrasive. You can like that thing all you want, but when I say fuck it, I mean KILL IT WITH FIRE.
The only consolation with the Twerkey is that it was the english localizer's decision to name it that, it's original japanese name was actually a play on words that's far less suggestive, but doesn't translate to other languages very well.
That said, no one likes the enemy regardless, and for good reason.
The twerky is my favorite enemy in miitopia, but that's BECASUE it's cursed.
I do think the villa might be the real worst mechanic, as those miis are always pointless. But given it's not necessary to beat the game, I'd say the one you'll encounter no matter what is much more relevant for a video topic X3
“What’s the worst mec-“
Illness… it’s illness…
@@TGOArchive illness is a minor inconvenience. Not a single time did I find it to be the worst, tho I do wish the game had medicine for it cuz lot's of people seem to hate it
Miitopia and Tamodachi life are my most played games on my 3DS
I only plaid about 300 hours of miitopia, making it number 5 or so.
I played a lot on my 3DS hhehehe
Jokes on you. I selected Rouxls for Great Sage.
I think rouxls wasn't even a thing when I first played miitopia X3
@@SmashedTomatoes God. Damnit.
Personally, I loved the part when the game kidnapped all of my party members and did in fact whipped out almost all of my progress to fit an extra 10 hours of necessary play time and it was even better the second time. Also, why does Dimitri have a sword instead of a lance and Shamir is a bow knight instead of a sniper?
I don't fucking know does it look like I played Tree Houses?
@@SmashedTomatoes You seem like the type to find it enjoyable.
I don’t mind the mechanic. Firstly, it means you have to make more miis, which means there’s even more to grow attached to. Second, it means you have to try out new classes, giving more variety to the gameplay (the class change also means you don’t become overleveled from the main story).
Yup, the mechanic is great for the lategame as I say in the video, which is why I think the mechanic's presentation is the issue, rather than it's design.
My only concern on my first playthrough when I lost my class and party members was if I'd be able to progress, because I almost lost in the first area. I had chosen scientist, and spread my food to everyone instead what I did later where I gave myself all the food. My least favourite feature was that my best characters kept getting sick. They'd get better then get sick a few levels later.
Yup, sickness did need some RNG shenanigan prevention.
I do think greenhorn is harder than Neksdoor! Neksdoor has no fiends and only 1 relatively tricky boss.
@@SmashedTomatoes I'm playing through it again, and now I don't like it when my party tries to protect others from fiend attacks. Like thanks, now I have more than one party member down.
I remember on my 3ds when I got the game early I played my heart out and when I got to the point where my party members got took for the first time I was probably the most devastated I have ever been in my life because my favorite Wii sports CPUs were taken away from me💀
Thankfully I had plenty of miis I loved so it was fine but it did make my main priority save my first group/ my favorite mii instead of save miitopia.
Lol, I have never put a wii sports CPU on my Tomodachi/miitopia.
@@SmashedTomatoes I have always been a huge fan of them so it was the first thing I did after my own mii.
I love Miitopia. I went into the game knowing very little at launch on 3DS, and loved the whole thing. If you aren't experimenting with all the jobs and personality types, you're playing it wrong. :)
Repeat playthroughs are wild if you pick even more different combinations, as things that worked well before don't often work if even one cog is out of place. I've replayed the game a few times, and each playthrough is wildly different.
Going into Miitopia with a battle plan is not the name of the game. Watching your little Miis be adorable and squabble is the main fun. :)
You got that right! The fun is things not going your way, that's why I would sometimes mix and match teams towards the end of the game, it was fun seeing them screwing around at every bit.
One of my problems with the switch version is that they replace so many random events with "wow the horse is a thing!". Especially those scenes where 2 miis would start dancing or tripping randomly, it was so silly.
@@SmashedTomatoes I was pretty excited when the port was announced, but that excitement fizzled out the more I learned about it. I never ended up buying it.
The advanced Mii Maker was less cool than it first appeared too, as seeing hair physics on Miis really weirded me out. The Miis have always had this stiff, action figure in motion charm to them, and seeing their hair sway around really weirded me out.
I get that the feature is called wigs, but they accidentally made the new hairstyles LOOK like wigs because they don't look natural on a Mii.
what i don't like that much about the game is the fact that you can only control the MC.
while this isn't an issue for most of the game, some story parts lock you out of using your MC, which means you mostly become just a spectator.
They should allow you to control whatever character is on the 1st spot, as in the post game, the fact you can only play as the MC mostly encourages you to just use him in every team combination
I dunno, I kinda enjoyed seeing my teammates working without me. Like, it was cool to see they are friends with each other outside of my main character, controlling one of them would just make it feel like they wouldn't be friends if it wasn't for you. Roleplay is cool for me and those moments where always brief.
I remember HATING the sickness thingy that appears in the game's second half, to the point I modified the files to disable it. It was insanely annoying
Damn, I don't know why, but it never bothered me that much.
Honestly I didnt mind the party resets
But the sickness mechanic? Fuck that, FUCK that, I hate it, I DESPISE it, worst mechanic I've ever come across
It's certianly annoying, but it's very temporary and you can clear it easily. I do wish they had made like a grub that cured it faster tho, that way players could strategize around it.
@@SmashedTomatoes the only consistent way I knew how to clear it was to fight the final boss again, which then meant you had to sit through the entire ending
Otherwise you'd just have to do a number of quests until they popped back well again
and if my mii was the one to fall ill, I was doing that final boss
@@Wizzkidwasi always do the secret level next to the final boss and do the snurp route, since it farms snurp radishes & gold and you can get the exp if the rare snurps spawn in the last battle
A little late but for me, I loved building new team members because I have so many ocs and I liked picking a new class because of the sheer variety between them! What made me stop playing a little into the second world though was just that t felt so repetitive, like nothing at all changed despite everything being flipped upside down, and so I found the gameplay loop ended up getting boring (3ds ver. btw)
@@Kiki.Koala222 yup, I really think the sandstorm idea I mention here woulda been nice, neksdor is the worst part of the game by a bit.
4:30 the worst mechanic is the post game in general, I feel like this mechanic is fine because you can just create new party members anyway with cooler roles to replace them.
The post game in general is probably more like a part of the game than a mechanic. Also, even people here in the comment section mention using mostly their 1st party once they get it back...
@@SmashedTomatoes warrior is the only busted 1st party member, you dont gain anything from the others.
I honestly didnt really mind because i put the most random miis in my team and I was like 'oh so this is how you continue' with the miinapping bit- also the main character's reaction was hilarious each time it happened. And for the sickness feature, YEAH IT ANNOYS THE POOP OUT OF ME. Especially when my main character gets sick- but i have 4 other level 50s of the same job (warrior) that arent my protagonist and i usually main a 4-warrior team and also
o u t i n g s.
a r e.
t h e.
b e s t.
Outings= chaos + wholesomeness= perfect
Outings are my favorite addition to Miitopia Switch. They are funny and the Gym outing music goes hard as fuck.
"Why Too Many Players Drop Miitopia." Proceeds to immediately state how many people love Miitopia and play it to completion.
What does "Too Many" mean? "More than average" or "Absolutely everyone"?
@@SmashedTomatoes Both are wrong. Its neither Above Average nor Absolutely Everyone. Its the average amount of people who drop games.
for all the comments complaining about party sickness, there is an exploit i have discovered years ago that helps deal with this
however, this is only accessible if you unlock the final boss spot (mostly postgame)
if you go to attempt the final boss with a sick party member, that party member will suddenly become healthy again (probably because it requires all 10 party members) after you lose or win that attempt (you cannot go back after you enter, so losing is faster, i recommend using 3 dummy miis in the postgame so you dont waste HP bananas)
as far as i know this works on both 3DS and Switch and i am the only person i know who knows this and hope im not just unintentionally misleading people
i cannot remember for the life of me when i figured this out but ive been using this exploit ever since and frankly im glad they never seemed to catch on during switch development
of course, this doesnt mean the mechanic isnt still mind numbing
I just used some other mii for a while, and it was fine. I feel like people overblow this mechanic despite it being a minor inconvenience... No one dropped the game because of it, that's for sure!
I got so attached to my teams I cried the first two times they were stolen😂😭
@@macoroniwiththecheesedrippy screw the third team, they are the least worth the tears.
@@SmashedTomatoes My first two teams were actual people I knew, and I was *INCREDIBLY* attached to my teams, When it got to the third team I was just like, “ok…I’ll just get my other teams back and never use this team again” 😂 I started getting sort of attached and then the dark lord took them
I was just really annoyed.
@@SmashedTomatoes I got my team back I’m just trying to save my little brothers face now-
I personally hated the sickness mechanic way more than my party resets, mainly because it was so random and you can’t control _any_ of your other party members. It’s such a bad piece of the game that I used to get frustrated and quit whenever my character would be sick. I mean c’mon, the game couldn’t let you appoint and control a new party leader while yours is down for the count? Having zero control over your group, especially post-game in certain areas, is easily the worst part of the entire experience.
Honestly, Miitopia was such a good game that even when it was a 3DS release I didn’t have many complaints. This remains one of the few that still irk me.
3DS releases are SUPER solid in general tho, for such a little system, that thingy goes hard!
I think sickness is bothersome and annoying, but it happens late enough in the game where I can let it slide. Maybe sickness is more common for other people? I got it like 3 times in my whole playthrough, and I did every level with golden flag + every mayor sidequest.
I don't think progress loss of the protagonist's first job is the worst, like at all. The worst mechanic would be sickness RNG, unlocked after defeating the Dark Lord.
That's not as bad because fixing it is way easier than this. Also, it just takes a bit of time, the game would be a little easier without sickness...
@@SmashedTomatoes Sickness isn't difficulty, it's an annoyance that halts fun.
My only issues with the game were the horrible methods of buying equipment being random, and not always guaranteed, the ability to create more heroes after the main game, starting them all at level crap, and the FUCKING screen that popped up like every 20 or so minutes asking if you wanted to keep going. Whoever thought that was cool should get a hard kick in the nuts! Other small improvements could have been not needing online to swap miis between users on your system in the mii library, and maybe manually being able to organize them. I have a collection of miis I try to keep organized by game series, and I constantly have to erase them and re-add them to keep the list organized.
Lol, the 20 minute screen is a nintendo thing, they do it for many games so you don't end up playing for 3 hours, because casual players usually do 30 minutes for each play session. I would have liked a level bonus on Miis who are behind, tbh, making new Miis after your initial 10 Mii party was always stupid.
Miitopia should make a comeback in my opinion.
While I'd prefer tomodachi 3, I'd take a miitopia 2 as well!
I wish there were 10-12 personalities, so you can give every party member a unique personality, to make them all feel different
@@MalikPlayz34 I mean, the combo of class + personality worked for me, but I'd love to have more personalities than you can have characters on a sequel, so that you're motivated to make more miis or replay the game later on
I think the worst mechanic is them getting sick. It’s so annoying.
I never minded it that much, but I see what you mean.
When I played through Miitopia, my plan through and through was to create new original characters (well, just for the party, the NPCs I left to the whims of the internet) to play with what I can come up with from the classes at hand. I didn't actually know about the kidnapping aspect, but it actually got me *more* invested in the creative aspect. It made me think, "who would live out in this desert?" or "what unusual characters would reside in a fairy's realm?" If anything, my first crew actually felt the most generic by consequence of this line of thinking, but I still like them equally.
I guess for people who just throw random video game characters into every slot that would be more annoying for them but idk, it actually made me interested in fleshing them out beyond Miitopia.
If anything actually annoyed me, it's that when you unlock the secret jobs, you don't really get an immediate opportunity to give them to new Miis, you just have to tack it onto someone you already have. And given that I sort of already established roles for them in my mind, I had no real interest in swapping them out at all.
I only did it because my Imp class was a vampire type character, so I found it fitting to change classes.
I really liked it taking away my party members
Or better explained I didn’t mind it and appreciated it later because it made getting more party members made sense and caused the endgame where you find them again to be really fun and I found the chance to actually be able to control more roles than the one that I initially picked was really nice
The only big problem I had is because party members are going to have very limited relations so your going to just be using your first 4 on the final boss so it feels a lot less open in how you solve it
I can understand why people can get upset about their party getting kidnapped, but I didn't get that upset myself. I was personally *more* motivated to keep playing, because I wanted to save my friends...
It did get old after the third time, so the Fey Realm group doesn't get quite as much love as the first or second groups, but that's kind of a meme in the community at this point.
Never seen anyone meme that "meme" specifically, tho I've seen a fair share of mentions for everyone having a specific group they neglected. I've seen people who were't interested too much in the game and got really into it, so their greenhorn team is lazy. People who got angry at the change so their neksdor team is lazy, and people who ran out of ideas so their Fey team is lazy.
"Makes you wonder why people call RPGs 'RPG Games' , which is like calling them 'Role Playing Game Games' which is like saying 'Naan bread' which is really saying 'bread bread' which is like saying 'chai tea'"
the horse made the game way too easy
I mean, miitopia was always easy, but horse abuse is busted even further
I genuinely don't believe that this issue is that bad. Honestly I'm happy they did it.
Yup, as I say in the video, it's great for the postgame! if it was executed better, more players coulda gotten to the good part.
Miitopia was fun. And the music went surprisingly hard for such a silly game.
The final boss theme and 2nd half battle music is FANTASTIC, some of the best I've heard in a game :3
Only thing that stopped me from completing the game the first time was I didn’t realise I’d need to level up all my party for the final boss. Managed to replay it fully a few months later though
I didn't have that problem, but you can grind your miis super fast in less than 2 hours. It's pretty mindlessly fun grinding in this game for me.
If I were to fix the main problem of the player character being forced to switch classes, I would make something like a skill tree, where basically after a certain level and you change class, you can get something from the previous class that always carries over.
Yeah, I'd make an homunculus class, kinda like how persona games let the main character have any skill after getting the creature that lets them use it.
00:06 that weird black mario is not fanmade
Ain't no way
I remember getting so mad when my first team was Miinapped- mainly because I'd spent so many Jolly Jaunt tickets on one character that we were level 20-something from the demo alone
Damn, I wish the game was better at framing their rescue, could go a long way.
RRRRAAAAAAAAHHHHHH THE BINDING OF ISAAC REFERENCEEEEEEE
I casually reference Isaac more than I know, there's bound to be a reference in half my videos, but some are more subtle
I actually think this is a pretty neat concept
Imo the problem isn't that the party changes, it's more that it kinda feels like you're doing the exact same thing three times in a row
This could've been solved with implementing some actual different game mechanics after the first part
Yup! the mechanic itself is good, actually makes the lategame much better, but the execution is pretty bad.
I feel like world 3 has the fairy sisters accompany you, so it feels a little different at least.
I really liked the level and class wipes, It felt fresh to be able to choose a new class and a new party, and also motivated me to save my old party. It gives me the feeling of starting a new game without having to wipe all progress! Guess not everyone liked it though...
I thought it was fascinating when the party members were kidnapped. I’d never seen something like that done in an rpg. It was terrifying and incredible, I loved it and wish more games did something like it.
I mean, many RPGs do, but I would love one that does it well enough. Miitopia's idea was great, but the execution coulda been so much better!
The stolen party thing, while annoying, isn’t the part that makes me quit often. The worst part for me is the quests after beating the dark lord for the first time. Knowing I have to do a bunch of random quests to even UNLOCK the other quests to get the jewels to THEN have to climb the tower with the boss rush. It’s just super draining to me, as someone who just HAS to get the gold flag in every level.
I mean, I gold flaged every level and enjoyed it a lot! but I do agree the change of phase is bound to make some players feel discouraged.
I think the whole reason this mechanic never bothered me is because I saw it coming due to HOW I came to know the game to begin with. I watched people like Alpharad’s and Space Hamster’s videos on the game which showed the team getting snatched.
@@littlebabyman8494 oh yeah! And miitopia is also great for that since unlike Tomodachi you do get A LOT of enjoyment from playing it yourself
The only thing that really bothered me about this game was that it ended (I played it too fast). I was so obsessed with it that I beat every single boss fight, no problem, on my first try. I don't even remember dying once in the main storyline. Not until I reached New Lumos and Galados Isle. Miitopia will forever be my favorite silly rpg game and a huge comfort of mine.
@@ugh4806 hard agree with all of this. It's such a good game despite it's many simplicities
Yes, I've found my people!!
I have a hyperfixation on Miitopia, I loved both versions of it!
Was it weird that none of these mechanics bothered me? I thought it made the game interesting, also I loved seeing all my ocs in different shenanigans!
Also there should be Tomodachi life for the switch!
Not weird at all! I do sell it as the worst mechanic, but Miitopia is just overall incredibly fun. Maybe it bothered you the first time, I know it bothered me! Although very little hehehe.
@@SmashedTomatoes I'd say my least favourite mechanic is the sick one hehe-
I personally think miitopia’s complete lack of tactical JRPG mechanics works to its favour. Basically all of the stakes in game are determined by some sort of RNG, which makes it fun since the game doesn’t take itself very seriously. It’s super exciting when one of your energetic party members endures three attacks in a row and clutches up the battle. The whole ‘reset’ thing that happens after a story arc is also one of my favourite things about it because it gives you the chance to play with several different playstyles and adds more members to your party while making it clear that your lost party members will eventually return. The part in Karkaton where you have to rescue each of your companions as you approach the Dark Lord is so satisfying!
Yup, I kinda love miitopia even with it's flaws, probably the most casual RPG ever yet still mountains of fun
I mean I get happy when that happens. You get new jobs, have opportunities to add your friends or ever you grandpa! I just get to make more miis! My favorite thing to do!
Then you're familiar with the game, thus, a minority of the audience that plays the game
0:35
Me, who made the Great Mage Gunnthra from Fire Emblem: IM THE EXCEPTION
I got the notification as great mage gunter, and was about to get excited.
the only mechanic i truly despise is the "random team member gets sick for undefined time"
especially when its the Mii im trying to level up...
I can't deny I would have loved to have medicine in the switch version, even if it's expensive, would have been nice to unlock something that avoids that random penalty if you don't want it, particularly in the post game.
I enjoy the wackiness of limited control of the party for the most part, but the thing that really buns me out is the inability to switch who your main mii hero is past the main game. I was happy to use them throughout the main story, but in the post-game I really wanted to control one other party member. Like, they couldnt even let you choose which single mii you get to control. 😔
that would have been pretty cool ngl!
Honestly even as a VERRY young child (I’m pretty sure I had the og game actually) I was like “SERIOUSLY? AGAIN?” After the third time I also definitely remember running out of character ideas at that point too lmfaoo
Thankfully you don't make any more past that point hahaha.
You would have still figured it out even if it brought 3 more party members X3
i don't exist because i set the Great Sage to one of my ocs
also persona 3 mention i am now ahdhehehhshs game
I mean, I too did a character from something I'd like to write in the future, but they don't count.
I for the longest time did not know you could speed up the game
How did you like... play?
honestly, the mechanic was super annoying whenever it happened ingame (i was just salty and didn’t wanna grind for like four hours each time) but it was also the only thing that helped me see how useful the other classes were and build a team I wanted, so it wasn’t entirely bad for me!!
As I say in the video, the mechanic has More advantages to the lategame than it initially appears, but it does take several hours to pay off!
Miitopia is a perfect game, im currently trying to 100% it, and I love it because it’s so much grinding, SO MUCH CONTENT
Also any of the upsetting features didn’t deter me since I already knew about them and got into the game very much not blind in the slightest
Still my favorite game now, sharing a spot with one other game (which is drastically different in tone lol)
I tried 100% but ended up 70%ing or so. The later achievements are scary and would take a loooot of time.
@@SmashedTomatoes that’s the shiz I like 😈 my only problem is coming up with characters to use for the jobs I don’t have yet..
Yeah, that’s my only problem
Honestly I never used the horse. Idk maybe it’s just me, but the limited customization, plus the trivializing difficulty thing just really turned me off. I’m sure it’s the coolest thing in the world for the people playing that have at least one horse, and maybe if there was like a couple different ‘pets’ I’d be more open to it, but I just couldn’t get attached to the horse even after a while
I kinda agree. Like, the horse is cool for the purpose I mention in the video, but I'd rather they had gone with some of the other potential fixes. The horse is just alright and since it's just a horse, it just feels tacked on. You can put a mii in their spot, it's just lame
I think the reason they reset the player is because the actual levels in the games don’t go that high, I think it’s up to 50. Also, move-pools usually stop in the 20 to 30 range, so you’d basically have a complete character early on in the game, maybe even a complete party. Then you play through the rest of the game gaining no new moves, except probably new armor and weapons, but those just give you more attack and defense.
I can understand the uncontrollable party annoying, but the game is built to be chaotic and wacky. Sometimes it’s more fun to just sit back and enjoy the show.
@@C-View1 yeah, much of this is as said in the video hehehe. They'd need to fundamentally change how levels work to make it more natural
@ Or just add more moves and stuff