Have you ever wondered about circumstances tht you believe were beyond you're control? Well in the new popular game series Yo-Kai Watch, "Yo-kai is why!" That's right! Today I shall be giving a review on the popular Japanese videogame Yo-Kai Watch.
Yo-Kai Watch is a Japanese Role-Playing Game developed and published by Level-5 (Fantasy Life, Professor Layton series.) The series, while being all the rage in Japan, has only recently released the first game of the series stateside, November 6th, 2015 to be more precise. The series has been known for receiving critical acclaim with spin-off such as merchandise, an ongoing anime series, and even a movie with a sequel on its way.
STORY: The story revolves around the protagonist of the series Nathan Adams/Keita Amano (or if you choose the female option at the beginning, Katie Forester/ Fumika "Fumi-chan" Kodama), an average eleven-year-old, who while out searching the nearby forests for bugs, discovers an old and mysterious capsule machine which desires for the protagonist to feed it. Upon giving it a quater, a capsule is released from the machine which contains the ghost named Whisper, a self-proclaiming and self-appointed Yo-Kai butler. Whisper upon being released blesses his freedom and the encounter with the protagonist by giving you a device known as a Yo-Kai Watch, a device that allows for a normal person to be able to see Yo-Kai that have inhabited the world.
REVIEW: Now I know I have been saying a lot of Yo-Kai this and Yo-Kai that, but what exactly is a Yo-Kai. Have you ever had a time where you forgot that you forgot you had a homework or job assignment that needed to be done? MUST BE A YO-KAI! Have you every blabbed out a secret that you were holding for a friend and promised you would never tell anybody? MUST BE A YO-KAI! The series basically explains that most phenomenon and occurences within our daily lives that we can't simply explain, are becuase of Yo-kai, mythological spirits that are not seen to the normal human eye. To give you an general idea, think about it as Tengus and Kappas in Japan or Bigfoot or Loch Ness in the U.S.
The actual storyline and gameplay of the series is pretty simple and basic. Instead of having a full on storyline, the story is broken up inot chapters with each chapter being consider its own short story while also giving the protagonist access to new locations and thus new Yo-Kai. While each chapter can be considered its own seperate story, it is through the stories that the protagonist gains an understanding of the Yo-Kai world and the connection between the two worlds. The world of Yo-Kai Watch is very open and extensive to the point of even having a day/night mechanic thrown into the game and large maps and submaps with active enviroments.
Yo-Kai Watch's combat mechanics have a lot of interesting and fresh tricks to them. In the game you have up to
six Youkai on your team at one time, each with their own special abilities, special attacksm and effects of inspiriting to either hindering your opponent or giving your own team a little boost. What makes it so interesting about all of these choices as to what your Yo-kai does, is actually reling upon what your Yo-kai feels like doing. You can determine the likeliness of your Yo-kai doing actions that you desire by changng their attitude (kinda like Pokemon's Nature mechanic that was introduced in Ruby and Sapphire) using books.
Now what does that mean for you as you experience the game? That means that for the most part the battle is automatic, but that doesn't mean that you as the player does nothing! In fact, you as the player has the most important of responsibilties in the fights. Durring fights on the touch screen you will notice there being a wheel showing all six Yo-kai on your team and four buttons surrounding them: Soultimate, Target, Purification, and Items. While some of these seem pretty obvious I would like to focus on the Soutimate feature and the Purify feature which holds the most player participation.
Soultimate is a Yo-Kai's signature move which is released when the soul gauge of the Yo-Kai is charged. What makes the action so interesting is that when releasing a Soultimate attack the Yo-Kai must first charge up it's energy. To help them charge, the player must accomplish various tasks: "Trace It", "Spin It", "Tap the Bubbles", etc. The same thing happens when dealing with Purification.
As I mentioned Inspiriting before and how it can hinder an enemy Yo-Kai, but the enemy can do the same thing to your own team. To help rid them of Inspiriting, it is the players job to move their Yo-Kai into reserves and purify them. When you select a Yo-Kai to purify, you must follow interactive steps similar to that of the Soultimate feature. Both Soultimate and Inspiriting become important and crucial in later battles where you will need every asset you can get especially when there are enemies that can Inspirit your entire front row team at once. It also makes the player interact with the game as if helping their creatures grow stronger or helping them in need of a crisis which give the player a feeling of greater worth.
However, I am not say the the machanic is without kinks. Due to the heavy amount of involvement, a player who is not careful can often be unaware of the condition of their team and might lose a Yo-Kai or two when the fights become more fast-paced. When using Purify or Soultimate, the wheel demonstrating your Yo-Kai as well as their health and conditions is taken over by the action required for the chosen action only leaving the top screen to watch your Yo-Kai and make sure that they are alright, but a person might be a bit occupied with the actions and conditions needed to use the Purify or Soultimate moves.
There are many other reviewers out there that claim that Yo-Kai Watch could easily become the next Pokemon series and from what I have played, I can easily agree with the in this sentiment. What makes the two so simlar isn't the fighting mechanics or storyline but the general creature and backstory behind the characters seems to give life back into that little kid who used to play Pokemon on a Game Boy Pocket. It was like I was exploring a brand new world with common presense like Digimon and Pokemon, but with a totally seperate and unique style and laws of gameplay.
All and all, Yo-Kai Watch is defintely a game with a lot of future potential as a series. The series holds within it some very interesting concepts and original ideas that can appeal to a wide variety of people and for all ages.
