Miitopia Review-in-Progress Part 1: The Crazy Battle System

Here is it folks! The beginning of the end…I mean…the beginning of our Miitopia (3DS)Review-in-progress! Today we will take a look at Miitopia’s battle system. It’s definitely “unique”. Spoiler Warning in case you don’t want to know anything about the battle system or the interconnected job system.

Miitopia has a turn based battle system. On the surface it seems a lot like what you’d find in other jrpgs on the 3DS. The top screen in where the action takes place and the bottom system handles the menu system. The commands on the menus are pretty basic: Attack, Skills/Magic, Snacks.

The player can also see the HP/MP of their party members on the bottom screen and take advantage of the options to Run, use Sprinkles (to heal and such) and place characters in a safe spot to heal up. So there are a few unique options on the bottom screen, but nothing too wild. This battle system may even seem a bit dull on first glance. But take another look, there’s more to this battle system than meets the eye!

You’ve never seen a job system like the one in Miitopia before. Even the starting jobs like Warrior and Cleric have some freaky skills. Just wait until you unlock jobs like Cat, Mad Scientist and Tank though. The jobs that open up get more bizarre as you progress in the game. And these jobs are only part of what makes Miitopia’s battle system unique.

Each job has its own abilities and some of them are pretty far out. Take, for instance, the Tank! This job has the human cannonball ability. With this, you can use another party member for ammo! Be warned though, the Miis don’t like this. In fact, you have to be warned in general about your other party members: you don’t control them and they could do anything at any time.

In Miitopia, you only control the actions of the party leader. You can have him or her attack, use special skills/magic, or whatever. The rest of your party controls themselves. So you just never what the rest of your party will do.  Generally if a Mii is low on HP or MP they’ll heal but you can’t always count on that. So you have to start asking yourself questions: Will they attack? Will they heal? Will they pick a fight with another party member? And you’ll have to try and adapt your battle strategy (remember the Sprinkles) to what happens! Miitopia’s battle system really keeps you on your toes.

One of the biggest issues that arises is that your party members can fight with each other, even in the middle of battle. This causes conflict and may actually hurt the battle. Of course, I had one time where the Miis started fighting each other and an enemy got caught up in the fight! That was so goofy.

Oh and it should be noted that your party leader won’t always work with his party. Sometimes, someone in party will try to heal the leader and he or she will refuse it! Then the healer might get angry at the leader and those two might fight or not work well together.

The bright side of all this is that party members (including your leader) can heal and offer support too. When this happens, battles run much more smoothly and the party bonds quickly. With Miitopia, you just never know, battle to battle, if your party will fight or help each other or both!

A lot of these in-battle interactions between your party members depend on what personality you give your Miis. There is stubborn, kind, energetic, and a few other options. You can get very unlucky and create a party that just doesn’t work well together. Fortunately, you can change the personalities of your party members via the game’s menu. That said, having a good mix of personalities keeps the battles interesting.

Miitopia also has some really crazy enemies! Just when you think you’ve seen Miitopia’s strangest enemy, it throws something weirder at you. And lets not forget the mostly goofy outfits your characters wear or insane weapons that they can get (Ketchup bottle!). Miitopia’s battles are just one of many things in this game that’ll keep you coming back to the game again and again.

Tomorrow in part 2 of our review-in-progress, we’ll take a look at the sim elements of Miitopia! Just how weird do these Mii’s get? Why is it important to spend time at Inns? See ya tomorrow!