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GoNintendo Review - Yo-Kai Watch 2

by rawmeatcowboy
28 September 2016
GN Version 5.0

Yo-Kai Watch is one of the biggest franchises that Japan has right now. While the series' momentum seems to be slowing down a tad, there's no doubt that it's still massively popular. Level-5 has been hoping to replicate that momentum outside of Japan, and it seems that at least in the states, things have been somewhat slow-going. Nintendo and Level-5 have both talked openly about sales, saying that the first game has taken a similar trajectory in America as it did in Japan. Level-5 has also been quick to point out that the series didn't really take off until the second installment saw release.

Well...that's where we are right now. The anime continues on in America, the toy lineup is being refreshed and the second game is about to hit store shelves. Yo-Kai Watch 2 has a lot of pressure on it to bring in millions of gamers here, just as it did in Japan. Will the game be able to rise to that level of success and turn the brand into a phenomenon outside of Japan? Well if fans of the franchise are looking for a very similar experience to the original, then the answer should be yes!

Yo-Kai Watch 2 gave me a very strong feeling of deja-vu, long before the game explained what was going on. You start out pretty much doing the same exact things you did in the early moments of the first game. You'll learn the ins and outs of gameplay, go on some bug-catching and bump into characters that you've become intimately familiar with in the past outing. Turns out the main character is suffering from amnesia, and this is all because he lost his Yo-Kai Watch when two sinister characters stole it away. The game slowly lets you in on the fact that the main character is also getting the feeling of deja-vu, which explains away why the beginning of the game feels so similar to the first.

You'll eventually gain your Yo-Kai Watch back, and this will unlock the memories of your past adventure. Visions come flooding back to you of your time with Whisper and all the other Yo-Kai you've encountered. As you meet other familiar faces and interact with them, the watch restores their lost memories as well. Soon enough, you'll be right back to where you were when the first game ended.

Then...the game slips right back into the same patterns of the first Yo-Kai Watch game. You'll take on missions that involve hunting down Yo-Kai that are causing trouble in town, or make your way through dungeons to solve the problems of others. You'll have side-quests and main story missions waiting for you, both of which can gain you experience and give you access to new Yo-Kai. You obviously need to tackle the main story missions to push the game forward, but you can actually revisit the side-quests as many times as you want to grind away and build a stronger team. There's really no need to revisit those sidequests though, as there are more than enough new ones available to spend your time on.

As you're out and about, you'll be able to find new Yo-Kai by paying very close attention to your Yo-Kai Watch. It'll act as a hot/cold meter to let you know when you're coming close to a Yo-Kai. You'll usually find them hiding under cars, down alleyways or sitting in trees. When the meter gets red-hot, you can open the Yo-Kai Watch lens and try to find the Yo-Kai. After you center the lens on them for long enough, you'll go into a battle that let's you have a chance at capturing them. If successful, the Yo-Kai and it's medal are added to your roster and you can switch them in/out of your Yo-Kai Wheel as the game moves on.

Your Yo-Kai battle wheel consists of 6 slots, with each slot allowing for one Yo-Kai. This wheel is rotated during battle to line up three Yo-Kai in front to attack the enemies ahead. When a Yo-Kai becomes extremely damaged or inspirited, you can spin the wheel and move them to the back to take care of them. For example, if an enemy inspirts a Yo-Kai, you have to spin them to the lower section of the wheel and play a quick mini-game to purify them. Once you do that, you can spin the wheel and move them back into the front position.

The wheel also lets you know that matching up Yo-Kai 'tribes' during battle will be beneficial. Basically, tribes are the types of Yo-Kai there are. If you match the front of the wheel with the same tribe, then all the Yo-Kai adjacent will get a boost in some way. It's extremely beneficial to make sure you set up your wheel with tribes that match, so that way your Yo-Kai taking on a battle will be able to do max damage, among other things. The micromanagement of the wheel isn't anything new to Yo-Kai Watch, but it's still an interesting mechanic that can mean a major difference in challenge as you progress.

As for the actual battling itself, there's really not all that much going on. You simply tap a 'fight' button and it sends the Yo-Kai into attack mode. You can change some of the habits of Yo-Kai to indicate whether they should attack, protect or other things, but battle is pretty much on auto-pilot. The only real impact you can have on battle is the Soultimate move, which has a gauge that's slowly built up as you play. When the gauge is full, you can use a Yo-Kai's Soultimate move, which is usually an attack that dishes out big damage. After that, you just wait for another Soultimate move to fill up and repeat.

Battling in Yo-Kai Watch is hard to explain. It's both complicated and easy at the same time. Actual battling isn't hard at all, but keeping track of everything that's going on can be frustrating. It's tough to purify a Yo-Kai and also keep track of what's going on on the top screen, which is where the battle is taking place. When you're trying to take care of a hurt Yo-Kai, the battle above could take a quick turn into bad territory for your other Yo-Kai. While actual fighting just plays out on its own, the micromanagement of the wheel itself and the Yo-Kai in it can start to feel like busy work instead of fun. When you get some powerful Yo-Kai, the pressure does let up a bit. Still, I can't help but feel that the mechanic would have benefited from a slower pace, or perhaps some more turn-based elements.

The only real change to battle comes from a new mechanic that lets you target a sweet spot on an enemy. Doing this can have any number of effects, including doing more damage, gaining more experience and other benefits. Again, this adds another element to the touch screen that feels like it clutters up the action a bit. It's always nice to get a little boost to some aspect of your character and abilities, but these sweet spots seem like a minor distraction rather than anything really worth praising.

I feel like the battling mechanic is a real point of contention for a lot of potential fans outside of Japan. While battles are indeed completely different from other RPGs, I don't know if the difference is good, bad or just different for the sake of being different. It's not a mechanic that I absolutely hate, but it's also not one I feel I enjoy too much. Again, it's so hard to explain how I feel about it. It's almost like I'm doing too much and not enough all at the same time. Perhaps I'm doing a lot of things at once, but I don't believe the things I'm doing are really letting me interact in battles the way I want to. It's a weird disconnect that only became more of a niggling issue as I moved on.

Thankfully, the game has other areas that are indeed well worth praising. There's no denying that Yo-Kai Watch 2 is a top-notch product when it comes to the presentation. Just as I said with the first game, Yo-Kai Watch 2 is a very nice looking game. It's clear that this franchise is quite important to Level-5, as they've gone the extra mile for visual presentation. The game world feels quite alive and vibrant, thanks to the fantastic animations and color choices. The character models and environments look absolutely fantastic and do a great job of bringing the experience alive. Some fantastic music and sound effects also go a long way to push this part of the game to the upper echelon.

The same can be said for the new Yo-Kai as well. There are roughly 450 Yo-Kai to check out here, and now you'll be able to grab some Yo-Kai that only appeared as bosses in the first game. Again, as I said with the first title, Yo-Kai have an extremely different design approach to them from Pokemon. Pokemon man have a few odd designs in its roster, but Yo-Kai Watch turns up the dial to 11. This game is all about weird designs and even some off-putting characters. For example, one of the Yo-Kai is just a big, sweaty guy named Swelton. Sure, he's got some horns on his head and he's not exactly human looking, but for all intents and purposes, he's a fat guy that sweats a lot. That's kind of the approach that Level-5 takes with a large portion of the Yo-Kai. That might be a turn-off to some people, but I found the designs to be interesting and quite unique. At the very least, you'll never, ever confuse a Yo-Kai for a Pokemon.

Yo-Kai Watch 2 might sound like it's extremely similar to the first game, and that's because it is. There's a time-traveling mechanic in the sequel, and while that does change up the environment and the Yo-Kai you meet, you're still just doing the same thing you did in the first game with a new coat of paint. I'm not saying that's a bad or good thing. I just think it's clear that Level-5 saw that Yo-Kai Watch was catching on in Japan, so they wanted to create a sequel that stayed very close to the original while adding in a couple new bells and whistles. Perhaps that feeling of similarity is extra strong due to North Americans getting the first game less than a year ago. If I had a couple years inbetween play experiences, I might have felt more keen on revisiting the world of Yo-Kai, rather than feeling like I was just there doing the same exact stuff.

Again...Yo-Kai Watch is not a bad game at all. It's a rather unique experience with high production value and plenty of content to tackle. It's just that the Yo-Kai design and the battle mechanics are going to be a sticking point for a lot of people. Some just won't find the designs palatable and they won't get fun from the battle system. I mean, that's the same for any game really, but I feel like Yo-Kai Watch gets a lot more crap than most. I guess that has to do with a lot of fans feeling like Yo-Kai tried to pilfer ideas from Pokemon, and a lot of fans are loyal to the Pokemon brand.

Don't ignore Yo-Kai Watch 2 because you think you're just a Pokemon fan. This experience is extremely different to what you do in Pokemon, outside of the catching of weird creatures. If Yo-Kai Watch 2 is your first experience with the franchise, you may find yourself in for a real treat. A different approach to battles, a fantastic presentation, witty writing and a wealth of content to explore. There's truly a lot to take in here and it may end up being your thing. On the other hand, if you weren't a fan after playing the first Yo-Kai Watch, there really isn't going to be anything in this game to change your mind. Finally, if you did enjoy the first game, be prepared for a lot more of the same here. Whether you find that enticing or disappointing is up to you.

I want to see Yo-Kai Watch succeed and I do hope the sequel really opens the floodgates for millions of fans here in the states. Having a huge success on the 3DS isn't a bad thing at all. I just don't know if Yo-Kai Watch 2 is going to be the game to convince people that they've been missing out.