This is one of the few games that I wanted to try but missed out on on the Wii U so needless to say I was happy when this port to Switch was announced. After beating it, I can definitely say that it was worth the wait.
In the grand scheme of things, I actually haven’t played that many JRPG’s so I was a little worried that the game wouldn’t grab me. Those fears were put to rest quite quickly though as I connected with the characters and experienced the combat. The overall setting of this game is something I really enjoyed too. Taking place in Tokyo, but more specifically set to the backdrop of the entertainment industry. From photography to acting to singing, it covers pretty much every area you would expect/hope it would
You play as Itsuki Aoi and early on you and your best friend Tsubasa Oribe are recruited by Fortuna Entertainment, where your other best friend, Touma Akagi, is already employed. Throughout the story, you discover secret locations on another plane, called ‘Idolaspheres’. Inside these spheres are ‘mirages’, the enemies of the game and your goal is to defeat them before they can take over your world. The final boss of each Idolasphere is usually a mirage that’s powerful enough to possess one of the human characters that you encounter in the game.
Speaking of characters, some of the complaints I’ve seen about this game is how they all seem to fit into a JRPG cliché. This may be true but as I haven’t played many in the genre, it wasn’t a problem to me. I found each character to be endearing and enjoyed spending time with them. As well as the 3 characters I’ve already mentioned, you’ll discover an eclectic cast of characters, from Maiko, the head of Fortuna, to already established and up and coming Idols, such as Kiria and Ellie and beyond. The writing is often funny but occasionally sad too.
The game also serves as a crossover between Shin Megami Tensei and Fire Emblem, and while the majority of the game seems inspired moreso by SMT (bearing in mind I haven’t played either series), the mirages that you fight alongside are characters from Fire Emblem such as Chrom and Tharja.
So it’s already ticked a lot of the right boxes for me. The characters, story and setting are all interesting. However if the combat didn’t hook me, who knows how long I would have stuck around. Luckily, it’s fantastic and each extra layer that gets added is always fun. There are different types of attacks, such as sword, axe, fire, wind etc. and each type of enemy will have a different type of resistance to them. Hitting an enemy with an attack that they’re weak to will start a chain attack (or a session as it’s called here) where other members of your party will also attack the enemy. There’s also an SP meter and as you progress through the story more attacks become available to you. Finally, you eventually gain the ability to perform duo arts. The option to trigger these attacks appears during a session and once they finish they sometimes lead into a session of their own, meaning you can do huge amounts of damage with a single attack.
You gather materials every time you defeat mirages and through using these you can obtain upgrades. Of course, there’s the standard weapon upgrades that will increase your power but there’s also other upgrades that unlock certain abilities, such as a character in the sub-cast being able to partake in a session or a 10% increase in HP. There’s a large amount of variety and every upgrade feels satisfying. While this all seems like a lot, it’s very intuitive when you’re actually playing the game.
Alongside the main story, there are side stories for each of the main characters that Itsuki can help with. While these are technically optional, it’s highly recommended that you partake in them. Each character has 3 side missions that will unlock as you progress through the story and increase your stage rank. I found myself really looking forward to these missions and they’re great to do during the intermissions between each chapter.
The last point I’m going to touch on in this review is the music. Of course, the general themes such as the fight and overworld music is really good but as the game is set to the entertainment industry you might be expecting something a little more special. Well, this is exactly what you get. Most of the main cast has at least one song that they sing and, combined with some of the cutscenes that play during certain songs, they can be some of the stand out moments of the game. Personally, my favourite songs in the game were ‘Reincarnation’ and ‘Give Me’, but there are a lot of superb options to pick from.
Tokyo Mirage Sessions is a fantastic game in all aspects. An interesting premise with great songs and brilliant combat make it a must play for any JRPG fan. As well as it being an all around good time, it has me interested in Shin Megami Tensei V if that ever comes out…
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