I wrote this...review of sorts for Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE back in February and unearthed it today...in September. It's a bit late--but hoping this will be the precursor to more of my unconventional game reviews. And since it's been so long, let's just cut the small talk and get to it.
Sound
Lots of catchy tunes ranging from your typical JRPG dungeon-crawling beats to some awesome J-POP tracks (case in point: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHiMuBWuELA).
Censorship
I didn’t look into this until after I played the game. After seeing the comparison, I can’t say any of the changes made me think twice. I don't believe the the US should censor female boobs so strongly, but it’s often out of control for the creator and at the whim of regulating entities (ahem, ESRB). You get rated based on your game’s most offensive possible content, and if you hit a Teen or Mature rating, that’s going to limit how you advertise and who has access to purchase your game, among many other things. Sometimes games may be censored if only to open them up to a broader audience. This is all my conjecture, of course. Look: If you need to see unobscured boobies, might I interest you in a series of tubes?
Graphics
I don’t get into frame drops and hotboxing or whatever it’s called when things don’t form quickly enough from far away. TMS looks fine. Great art style and nothing that detracted from the gameplay or story. Smooth animations and fun flourishes during battle.
Complaints (Good lord why do I play games if I have so many things I hate about them?)
- What the heck are my party members saying during battle? They’re conversing with each other and their Mirages in Japanese, and I’m this English-speaking tactician commanding them. (I need to know what Tharja is saying that makes Kiria’s eyes bulge out every other battle.) That said, the rest of the game is translated excellently. I feel I’m missing out on a bit of the game’s charm by not understanding their battle banter.
- Itsuki—LET ME SWITCH HIM OUT of my team in my first playthrough. I don’t like when game designers lock options like this behind a second playthrough. I get requiring him for certain battles, but let me choose my artists.
- Notifications—LET ME TURN THEM OFF. It’s the in-game equivalent to your phone dinging you every time your friend Brett sends 20 one-word texts within a minute. This became especially bothersome when I focused on leveling up all my weapons. Each weapon has four skills and around every three battles you get a new one. You get an upper-left hand corner graphic and the exclamation point on your in-game phone won’t go away until you scroll through your new skill list. I get it--lots of skills!
- Barry. I get that his relationship with Mamori is silly; however, it came off as obsessive for a 35-year-old man to fawn over an 11-year-old girl to me. (He prefers anime girls in his bio.) Maybe this stems from me being chased by an older man across my hometown as a young teenage girl. I dunno, just came off as creepy to me. I did not like that sort of attention as a young girl from adult men--innocent or not.
Playtime
Took me a little bit over 50 hours to play through the main story, all character side stories, and maybe half of the other side quests. I ended at level 71 for all my characters for the final boss.
Should you play Tokyo Mirage Sessions?
- Do you like JPRGs? Then yes.
- Are you craving more Fire Emblem in any way possible? Then yes. Lots of great references throughout if you’ve played Shadow Dragon and Awakening.
- Do you like Atlus games? Then yes.
- Are you interested in playing Atlus games like Persona 5 but don’t have a PS4? Then yes.
- Did you like P5 but think the story took itself a bit too seriously? Then yes. TMS has a good story, which doesn’t try to preach, all the while cleverly inserting the pop culture elements.
- Did you want FFX-2 to have a better story and still bask in the fluff (both verbally and physically)? Then yes.
- Do you like games that are kinda grueling in regards to leveling up and character customization, yet you can’t help but revel in the constant grind? Then yesss.
- Do you like games with side quests that don’t feel like filler? Then yes.
- Do you openly or secretly like J-pop? Then yes and 100% your housemates will judge you. But who cares? A lot of the songs are cool, MOM.
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