Tokyo Mirage Sessions is this bizarre combination of J-Pop,
Fire Emblem and Shin Megami Tensei. The fact it exists at all is minor miracle
and it is quite unlike any JRPG I have ever played. It is completely amazing and insane and there is this weird sense of humour and awareness not seen in most RPGs.
The premise is absolutely crazy; you play as Itski, a high
schooler who signs up to an idol agency called Fotuna Entertainment. It turns
out though that the agency is just a front, and their real goals are to fight
of these evil spirits. You see, a bunch of otherworldly incidents have been
happening in Tokyo. Secret demons have been invading and causing havoc by
feasting on some celebrities’ Performa (which is basically their soul). This
causes them to go crazy so the idols, employed by Fortuna Entertainment, need
to enter the demon world, fight their way through a dungeon and defeat a boss
to save the day. It is kind of like the Persona series, except instead of
personas the idols fight alongside a Fire Emblem characters, because of course
they do- it is completely bonkers. If
you do not know much about Fire Emblem you will not miss out much. All the
characters who appear have new designs and amnesia and have forgotten their
Fire Emblem origins for the most part. I say for the most part because the
ending ties itself back to Fire Emblem in the most bizarre way imaginable, it
is shocking and will be a treat for Fire Emblem fans, but newcomers should just
roll with it because nothing in this game is really meant to be taken seriously
anyway.
When not delving through dungeons you are able to take
optional side quests for the different party members and these focus on their development
as an idol within different facets of the Japanese Entertainment industry. Tubuasa,
the lead female, wants to become a singer so most of her side quests are about her
finding the confidence to sing. You are rewarded heavily for partaking with a
video of the idol performing, and later you can purchase the costume they wore
and buy a poster, just like a real jpop fan. Then in battle the party member
gains a special move based on their performance and the game logs their
accomplishments in a menu, and by the end of the game it feels like you have
really watched their careers develop and grow whilst you have been partaking in
the main story.
Whilst the story is fun and is an interesting insight into
Japanese idol culture, which granted I do not know much about, it is not in any
way revolutionary or has a strong societal message. It is simply a tale of
entertainers wanting to do their best and the reward comes from watching them
grow. The main reason to play the game is the combat system. It is set up like
a typical JRPG with attack, guard, item and run options but the twist come when
you hit an enemies weakness and start a session. This causes other party member
who have complimenting skills to join in attacking the enemy. These start quite
subtle but very quickly you will find yourself building massive chains in your
sessions with every attack and these feel so satisfying as you rack up massive
damage against the bosses. The combat never gets boring and the more side
quests you complete the more random elements appear. Each battle is staged like
an idol performance and each battle commands are listed as if it is telling you
the song title and artist on a music channel. Idol culture permeates through
everything this game does, so if you are prepared for it, you should give it a
go!
I do have a few problems with the pacing in Tokyo Mirage
Sessions. Occasionally the game has enemy level spikes causing you to grind out
when you have been defeating all the enemies which have spawned. This I think
is one of the biggest gaming sins an RPG can make, however, it is easily
remedied as this game includes the DLC from the Wii U version including a battleground
designed for farming EXP quickly. After 20 minutes here I found I was a high
enough level to continue the main story. Included is also all the other DLC
costumes and some new costumes based on Persona 5 and Fire Emblem Three Houses.
I was constantly changing through the costumes because of the awesome designs I
was unlocking. Additionally, I was also frustrated by a lack of autosave or
retry options after losing a fight. The game ruthlessly boots you to the title
screen upon death which caused me to lose hours of progress and I really wish
in the future Atlus would make an autosave option, so I did not lose progress
for making a careless error especially as this game is a rerelease.
Ultimately, I really enjoyed my time with Tokyo Mirage Sessions.
The unique idol theming gave the JRPG some real flavour and has meant that it
was quite unlike anything I have ever played and has been one of my standout
games from 2020. The side quests reward you with watching your party members
careers grow and the creating sessions every battle was extremely satisfying. I
finished it after playing Dragon Quest XI S, which feels like the polar
opposite of this game conforming to every generic fantasy RPG trope imaginable,
whilst Tokyo Mirage Sessions does not just feel like the developers thought
outside the box; they ripped it wide open. It feels like it was designed by
someone from Atlus who was having a massive drugs trip whilst watching jpop
music videos and free to take anything they fancied from Fire Emblem. It is
amazing this game exists and if you are a fan of RPGs and willing to take up an
idol themed one you might be surprised and the imagination that went into Tokyo
Mirage Sessions.
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