Review of the game Yo-Kai Watch

Japan is an amazing country. Here high technologies go side by side with ancient traditions. The Japanese daily use the most advanced electronics and other fruits of modern science, but they do not forget about the spiritual world. Take Shinto, for example, a deeply national religion that perfectly embodies the culture, character and customs of the Japanese nation. Most residents of the Land of the Rising Sun believe that in many things there is a certain spiritual essence, in other words - the soul. From the point of view of the Japanese, the soul can be not only in man or, for example, a cat, but also in wood, stone and sun, and with spirits it is best to live in harmony and understanding. This is the philosophy that formed the basis of the new Yo-Kai Watch game for the Nintendo 3DS pocket console.

I really like the Japanese studio Level-5. At one time I was fascinated by such games as Dark Chronicle and Rogue Galaxy for PlayStation 2, Jeanne d'Arc for PSP, and, of course, my favorite Professor Layton series for handheld Nintendo DS. But at some point the management of the studio realized that once in Japan the Pokémon series are terribly popular, then it's a sin not to try to make money on it. The first alarm bell for me was the game Ni No Kuni, created in collaboration with the animation studio Ghibli ("Spirited Away", "My Neighbor Totoro", etc.). In it, the protagonist collected and trained fabulous creatures, which then helped him to fight with various monsters. Even then, I thought that this is a neat palpation of the soil for future studio franchises that will actively exploit the "Collect them all!" Model laid by the Pokémon series.

And so it happened. In 2013, on the shelves of Japanese stores appeared game Yo-Kai Watch for Nintendo 3DS, in which the player was asked to collect a collection of magical creatures Yo-Kai (Yokai). The game, which is quite expected, attracted the attention of Japanese gamers, and here the number of fans of the new franchise suddenly began to grow exponentially. Quite quickly, the game went fantastic for a new IP edition of 1.3 million copies. Of course, the management of the studio Level-5 clung to the opportunity to squeeze out its new franchise to the maximum, so the advertising campaign of the game was accompanied by the release of the animated series of the same name, manga, as well as a huge number of souvenirs.

To date, Japan has released three numbered games of the main series Yo-Kai Watch, as well as several spinoffs and crossovers with other series, such as a special version of Just Dance with Yokiyami and music from the original game. The franchise has literally enslaved the consciousness of the Japanese, and both old and young are playing these games today. Developers this brings multi-million profit, and fans are eagerly waiting for new games and sweep off the shelves of stores any products with the symbols of Yo-Kai Watch. In fact, Level-5 was able to create from scratch and as soon as possible its own "Pokemon", which, of course, deserves respect. But only here something tells me that in the future the studio will focus exclusively on such "pokemonoobraznyh games" that bring them fabulous income, and this is not very good.

The first game of the Yo-Kai Watch series reached Russia only three years after the Japanese release. In the US, the game came out a little earlier - in November 2015, and on the shelves of European countries it will appear only on April 29. So, let's try to understand what exactly this game so captivated the Japanese, and whether Level-5 will be able to enslave the minds of Western and European players, given the specificity of the style of the game and its gameplay. So, at the very beginning the player is offered to choose who will be the main character - the boy Nate or the girl Katie. I decided to play for the boy. The game takes place in a town called Springdale, but despite the American name, it is immediately clear that this is, without question, a Japanese settlement.

In search of rare beetles for the school scientific project, Nate wandered into the woods and finds there a rusty vending machine selling souvenirs. The boy threw a coin into the machine, but instead of a toy, a funny creature appeared from him, introduced by Visper. It told Nate that the world of people from ancient times is inhabited by so-called "youkai" - ghosts that can be both good and evil. But the most interesting thing in this whole story is that the youkai directly influence their mood for the world of people, projecting their own emotions onto it. If two people swear without any reason, an angry youkai lies close by. And if someone suddenly descended universal happiness and pacification, then somewhere near it flew a kind ghost.

Visper gives his new friend a special watch Yo-Kai Watch, with which Nate can see a ghostly world, as well as seek hiding in secluded corners of the youkai. The clock has a built-in radar that can indicate which side of the main character is the nearest youkai. Approaching him, the arrow on the watch starts to go off scale, which means that it's time to hunt. The flip top watch cover is a thick convex lens, looking through which Nate can see ghosts. You just need to look around through this lens in the place where you brought the radar to find the spirit hiding from the unaided eyes.

Found youkai are quite friendly and voluntarily join your team, but sometimes you have to join them in battle. If yokaya will impress you, how you will show yourself in battle - after the fight he will offer you his friendship and give you a special medal. Thanks to her, this youkai can be used in all subsequent battles. Medals Nate puts in a special album "Medallium", gradually filling out his pages. All youkai are divided into 8 separate tribes, and in total there are more than 200 different youkai in the game, which the player has to find and make friends. If the hostile youkai does not agree to be your friend in any way - try to appease him during the fight with his favorite food.

The combat system in the game is quite original. In combat, you can use six youkai, but only three of them can simultaneously attack opponents. The bottom screen of the Nintendo 3DS console shows a wheel with six segments, each of which can be inserted one medal. The top three are youkai - those that are currently fighting enemies. The lower three are a bench. If someone from the youkai is seriously wounded in combat, you scroll the wheel in such a way that your spare characters come to the forefront, and in the meantime you can patch up the wounded in complete safety with the help of healing objects or magic. Remember that you can replace the youkai installed in the wheel with those that are stored in your Medallium, only with special yoka-assistants who live in Springdale stores.

The fight is in real time, the youkai independently attack the opponents, but the player can specify which of the enemies on the screen is to attack at the moment. Also, a player can order a certain youkai to perform a particularly powerful unique attack for him "soul breakthrough". To perform such an attack, you will have to play a small mini-game using the stylus: draw a geometric figure on the screen, catch several flying spheres with the tip of the stylus, or spin the wheel as much as possible. Do not forget to equip your youkai with special items that increase their effectiveness in combat. And it will also be useful to place the youkai from one tribe next to each other on the segment wheel, since in this case they are guaranteed serious extra charges to the main parameters.

Over time, you can make your youkai much stronger. Two different youkai can be crossed with each other by "merging". As a result, a completely new creature will come together, combining the best features of its "ancestors". Do not be afraid to experiment, as some youkai can be collected into their collection of several pieces, so there is no shortage in materials for experiments. The second way to strengthen your fighters is "synthesis". You can cross not only with another spirit, but also with an object, while improving its characteristics and expanding the list of skills. Also, nobody canceled the classical evolution in the spirit of the Pokemon. As the level of yokai rises, he will be able to take a more adult, zamaterevshuyu form.

Do not write off the terrible bosses that you will have to fight from time to time. Each such fight requires you to carefully prepare and does not suffer mistakes, otherwise you will have to start with the last record. Each boss has special weaknesses, which you must timely indicate to your yokayam during the battle. Bosses, unfortunately, will not be able to tame, re-educate or make friends. But these exhausting long fights you will remember for quite some time.

The plot of the game develops as the player performs individual missions. If the story missions are interesting enough, for example, you need to close the magic gate to prevent the penetration of evil yoka into our world, or find details to improve your youkai hours, then the sidequests are rather monotonous and boring. As a rule, residents of Springdale are asked to find and bring them something to eat, drink and so on. Search for the whole city machine with diet coke at the request of the mother of a little girl who suddenly wanted to drink, or feed the hungry youkai hamburgers only the first few times. Then such sidequests begin to become boring and even annoying. In general, Yo-Kai Watch is an ideal game for playing in small sessions. I completed the mission at lunch break - closed the console and put it back in my backpack. Continued the game already on the way from work home in a bus or a subway car. Considering that many Japanese people play such "snatches", most likely, the developers originally planned a similar approach to the game process.

The town of Springdale and its environs is a rather spacious open world in which the player is free to go wherever he likes. And yet some places are closed for the time being, and in order to get there, you will have to sweep your team of youkai beforehand. When exploring the dark alleys of the city, do not forget to look under vending machines, cars, various boxes and even trash cans - there you can hide especially rare youkai, as well as lying valuable items. At night, be extremely careful, because at night in the city so powerful ghosts wander that it is easier to escape from them than to join them in battle. In addition to catching the youkai and digging in trash cans, a player can entertain himself in several other ways. For example, you can engage in fishing or expanding your collection of rare beetles.

I was very pleased with the variety of youkai and their unique abilities. Every youkai is an absolutely extraordinary creature with its own history and character. Take at least the ghost of the cat Dzibanyan (probably, he has Armenian roots), who was once to death truck moved, and since then he hones his fighting skills to one day avenge the evil trucks for the life taken away from him. Or, for example, Baku is a terrible violet elephant that feeds on human nightmares. The game becomes even more interesting when you are faced with a terrible truth: some youkai are able to take the form of a person and live among us. Among the youkai there are inveterate criminals, who need to be caught and defeated three times in a row. After that they will correct, become your friends and give you a letter from the secret password. The remaining letters can be exchanged with other players, and after collecting all the password, you need to go to the post office and, presenting it to the post employee, receive a gift.

In the "Wanderer's House", where wandering youkai often stop to rest, you can receive various gifts from them. These youkai belong to the players you met through StreetPass, so the game actively motivates you to new acquaintances and walks in your hometown with a Nintendo 3DS prefix in your pocket or backpack. Communication with other players is not limited to a friendly exchange. You can fight them by finding out whose team of youkai is stronger. To fight with other "breeders", you need to go to the post office of Lambert, and then choose a place for the upcoming fight. On this, however, the multiplayer possibilities of the game end.

Visually, the Yo-Kai Watch looks attractive, if not forget that this is a project for a pocket set-top box with a screen resolution of 400 by 240 pixels (this is clearly seen in the screenshots in my review). Bright, juicy colors, quality animated inserts, revealing the plot, colorful characters and charming youkai - all this sets the player to the right way. The game is very kind and instructive. Even the most evil creatures, the protagonist is able to re-educate and direct their energy to do good deeds over time. The game raises such important issues as friendship, growing up, the relationship of parents and children, so that the game may seem interesting even to people, from video games very distant.

A tangibly weak point of the game is its controversial interface. Despite the fact that Yo-Kai Watch is sharpened to use the stylus, sometimes you want to play in the old fashion, with the help of ordinary buttons. But if you can walk around the city with the help of D-Pad you can without any problems, then in battle without a stylus you just can not do. Fingers to press the screen is extremely inconvenient, and even in combat mini-games you just lose time and miss the opportunity to inflict a crushing blow to the enemy. In addition, I was sorely lacking control over the course of the battle. It seems that all the necessary tools are provided to the player, but you feel just a spectator. And even in the game extremely uncomfortable implemented yokaev statistics. In the Medallium you can find out their strengths and weaknesses, as well as explore unique special techniques. But during the battle at your fingertips there will be no tips, so all this information will have to be kept in your head, which strains a lot.

Pros:

• The game captivates with bright animated stylistics.
• Incredible amount of diverse game content.
• Steep, unusual, funny, permanently memorable youkai.
• Excellent atmosphere and life of modern Japan.
• There is an opportunity to measure strength with other players.
• It will take a lot of work to collect a complete collection of youkai.
• Very exciting and difficult fights with powerful bosses.
• The game is imprisoned for short game sessions.

Minuses:

• It is necessary to keep in mind a huge amount of information.
• From time to time, you realize that before you is a clone of Pokémon.
• There is an acute lack of control over the course of the battle.
• The game can not be controlled without using the stylus.
• The monotonous "bring-submit" quests quickly get bored.

So, what conclusions did I make after spending more than a dozen hours in the game? Yo-Kai Watch is a nice Japanese RPG, which has all the chances to please both adults and children (provided that they at least have a superficial knowledge of English). As for me, this game feels more pleasant and more diverse than the "Pokemon", although it repeats this series in many ways. In addition to certain advantages, such as an attractive visual style, memorable characters and an unusual story, the game is not without its tangible shortcomings. Controversial interface and controversial automatic combat system can prevent you from fully enjoying the game. Nevertheless, the advantages in this case clearly outweigh the disadvantages, so I put the game 8 points out of 10 .

The article is based on materials https://hi-news.ru/games/obzor-igry-yo-kai-watch.html.