Memetopia

I'm not a huge fan of casual, dumbed-down, 'everybody can enjoy this' kind of games. Some people just wanna turn their brains off for a bit and enjoy a game without having to think too much. I like to be challenged, to get into complex game mechanics and to feel immersed in a game. So Miitopia wasn't really on my radar. And it didn't have to be, because Claire is absolutely crazy about her Miis and bought the game the second it was released on the eShop.

WTF Nintendo?

I watched her play for a while and was really surprised by some of this quirky little RPG's fun and clever features. All of Claire's characters had their own personalities and mindsets and they all interacted with each other in funny, if sometimes idiotic ways. I don't like how you can really just give orders to your main character in battle or how you just watch your characters walk about when they explore, only to be occasionally interrupted by attacking monsters. Then I saw how her party was utterly destroyed by a surprisingly challenging boss and felt intrigued. The game doesn't just hand shit to you, just because it looks a bit primitive at first. So I went and gave it a go.

Spongebob is the root of all evil.

I don't play Tomodachi Life and I don't have Miis representing all my friends and family living on my 3DS. Claire does, so you can see her, her mother, some of our German friends and my grumpy self in her game, which is actually quite fun. For my game I'm using whatever random shit I can find on the internet. My goal is to destroy Spongebob.

A noble endeavor.

Spongebob has stolen people's faces and plastered them all over random monsters, so it's my job to defeat the monsters, return the faces to their owners and... look, don't ask me. It's fucking Japanese, alright?
My main character's personality is 'stubborn', which is good in some situations and frustrating in others. He's a tanky warrior and one his quirks is that he can brace for impact before an enemy attack, greatly mitigating the incoming damage. On the other hand, he may flat-out refuse healing, because heals are for pussies. It makes him likable in a weird way, but it's not always helpful when your warrior cockblocks your cleric in a difficult fight.

My first additional party member is a skeleton, who is also a chef. His personality is 'laid-back', which sounded good on paper, but it usually means that he'll hide behind the warrior or he'll skip turns altogether in order to preserve mana. He whacks monsters with a frying pan and cooks stuff to heal the party in battle.

Yeah, Zoidberg is there, too.

As I said before, you only get to give orders to your main character, while the rest of your party members do whatever they feel is right. And the AI isn't always great. Sometimes my group will get attacked by a large group of weaker monsters. This isn't a big deal if you have a thief, because they can damage all enemies on the screen with a single attack, taking out weaker groups with one attack. It gets problematic, however, when the AI decides to skip the attack to steal a banana, instead, causing the weak monsters to wreak havoc upon your party. I really wish I could just give orders to my party members directly! I have only finished the first part of the story so far, so maybe you get to tell them what to do later, once you raise your friendship level enough. But right now I have to put up with the occasional dumb AI decision.

Some boss battles aren't as 'casual' as you might expect.

If you don't want to plaster your Mii's faces all over the characters of this game, the game seems to grab random popupar faces off the internet, instead. I was a little surprised to bump into people like GabeN or Walter White, because I definitely didn't put those in there, myself.

The game automatically downloaded this one.

Naturally, you'll have more fun with this game if these Miis and faces are actually something you care about. Claire made herself a cleric with a kind personality, so she'll often spare monsters or throw herself in harm's way to protect others. She also put our friend Haggy in there and made him a cool pop-star, meaning he's too awesome to be affected by most status ailments and he can devastate whole groups of enemies with his mighty singing voice. She also put Haggy's girlfriend in there and is planning to make her a cat, which is an actual character class and all sorts of creepy.

Not sure if my thief is an ant or Tupac.

As party members heal, buff and fight alongside each other, their friendship level goes up and they unlock new special abilities. For instance, one party member might warn a friend if they're about to be attacked, giving them a chance to dodge the incoming hit. Or one of your guys may want to show off to another party member, causing him to deal a bit of extra damage. Your characters also interact with each other outside of battle. My skeleton chef wanted to impress another party member with a new outfit and came back with a flowing mane of golden, glorious hair.

Bitch, I'm fabulous!

Characters will often ask for a bit of money, telling you they'll go and buy a new weapon or some armor with it. Sometimes, however, they will return with some other random shit, so there's no guarantee they'll actually buy the thing you gave them money for. Again, this can be a fun little quirk, but may annoy you if you want total control over your party. Sometimes they just do what they want.

His face might be back, but he'll be forever alone.

Miitopia doesn't just simplify (or take away your control over) shopping for gear. Instead of stocking up on a ton of potions and healing items like you would in other classic RPGs, Miitopia hands you various salt shakers, which dispense HP, MP or bring fallen comrades back to life, depending on the shaker you use. Once they're empty, that's it and you'll have to refill them at the next inn. You can find bits of food like HP bananas or MP sweets, which can also restore your health and mana, but they're very rare and massively expensive, so I ended up adventuring entirely without them most of the time.

Hanging out with Dolan and Auntie Hamburger.

The silly humor in this game is one of its best features. Sometimes two of your party members may start a training montage together, which raises their friendship level. In fact, the whole friendship system is so cool, I wish more RPGs used it. It's just fun to see how your group goes from complete strangers to close friends, who will help each other and try to impress one another, causing them to fight harder and harder all the time. Except when one of them is having a bad day and decides to screw around with the rest of the team.

If you hate the idea that your characters may have a bit of a will of their own, then this game certainly isn't for you. But if you don't need your RPGs to be super serious and you like goofy humor, then Miitopia is abolutely worth picking up. Make no mistake, though - it may look ridiculously easy at first glance, but things can get pretty challenging, especially if you don't put a bit of thought into how you want to set up your party.