Introduction
Miitopia is a fantastic and none-too-serious RPG title from Nintendo for their 3DS and 2DS system. We love this game (as you can see in our review), but it's deceptively complex.
Because it's complicated, we've put together this handy-dandy beginner's guide, with tips that both newcomers and those already knee-deep in Mii's will appreciate!
CLASSES & PERSONALITIES
Every new party member that joins your gang of adventurers in Miitopia is customized by you–not just in appearance, but in skill-set and personality, as well. Once you've selected or created the look of a new party member, you'll be asked to select both the character's class and their personality, both of which carve out what kind of party member that Mii will be.
Classes are known to most RPG fans, and they act as you'd expect–they determine which skills your character will learn as they level up by defeating enemies, and what kind of damage their normal attacks will deal. To make things easier, here's a quick chart that explains the basics of each class:
| Class Name | Class Traits |
|---|---|
| KNIGHT | A heavy hitter, and can protect allies from damage |
| MAGE | Heavy magic damage dealer, various spell types |
| CLERIC | Good at healing, gets a for-sure resurrection spell |
| THIEF | Can steal recovery items, attack hits all enemies |
| POP STAR | Can boost allies, attack hits all enemies |
| CHEF | Like a paladin, has ally boost spells and offense |
| CAT | High damage and speed, has self-damage boosts |
| TANK | High damage, wide area of affect; angers allies a lot |
| IMP | High magic offense, more effective defense debuffs |
| SCIENTIST | Great wide area of attack spells, uses lots of MP |
| PRINCESS | Can regain MP, can make enemies lose turns |
| FLOWER | Like a Cleric, with more of a damage-dealing focus |
There are also two hidden classes that you can get, but we'll leave those as nice surprises as you play through the game.
Personalities, unlike classes, are a unique entry into the RPG formula. Personalities dictate what strange actions Mii's may undertake in addition to–or in lieu of–the normal actions they are expected to take. This means that, because a character is kind, they may let an enemy leave the battle field unexpectedly instead of attacking it; alternatively, a character may avoiding getting poisoned, because they're just too cool to care. Personalities are hugely influential in Miitopia, and knowing the basics contained in the below chart can help you play the game exactly how you want:
| Personalities | Personality Effects |
|---|---|
| KIND | Can let an enemy go, offers items/coverage to allies |
| ENERGETIC | Boosts attack at HP expense, can revive with 1 HP |
| LAID-BACK | Can annoy ally by shifting damage, ignore ailments |
| COOL | Can target enemy's weak spot, ignore ailments |
| STUBBORN | Can boost defense, attack again, or refuse to help |
| AIRHEADED | Might nap and regain HP, or distract an enemy |
| CAUTIOUS |
May have a hidden MP/HP boost, or deal a finisher
|
EXPLORATION
While Miitopia restricts player movements to a horizontal plane in most cases, there are often several branching paths in each location. It's worth it (and sometimes needed for story progression) to replay each location on the world-map until you've completed all paths. To aid you in doing this, the locations that you've traversed 100% turn yellow and sprout a little flag, which lets you know that you've totally cleared that area.
There are also several cases throughout the game where you'll find seemingly random things, like levers, while wandering through a map. Some of these reveal special pathways if hit in the right order, so scan the world-map before diving into a location to see if a treasure chest or Mii may have a hidden path leading to it. If you encounter levers or the like and hit them, but nothing happens, you probably did it in the incorrect order or pattern, so complete the map again until you figure it out (there are also usually NPCs that tell you the correct order, so speak to everyone in the towns).
RELATIONSHIPS
Your party members build relationship meters up by rooming together at the inns you reach at the end of locations. Raising the level of characters' relationships is very helpful, as every level up to ten gives them a new special joint skill (after level 10, new skills are offered after several levels gains until no more exist).
Relationship skills are automatic, meaning you don't choose to do them, the Mii's do. They vary, and can be quite powerful, such as the "Lend a Hand" skill. This means that a Mii may help out their friend's attack, and add bonus damage. What's more, several Mii's may help out at once, if they have the appropriate relationship levels, causing serious damage to the enemy or enemies.
Relationships can sour occasionally, however, generally when a character takes an offensive action (such as hiding behind them so an enemy damages them due to the laid-back personality trait, or through friend-damaging special attacks like the Tank's Human Cannonball skill). These spats between Mii's can escalate, causing them to disrupt each others' actions, and making them get into fights mid-battle that cost actions and deal friendly damage.
Repairing relationships is done by bunking the feuding Mii's together at inns. When these Mii's are together, they decrease their resentment level instead of building their relationship level. When their resentment reaches zero, they are friends again. Sometimes, roomed Mii's will apologize to each other prior to the animosity meter reaching zero, and they make up right then and there, thus reverting back to normal. Fixing relationships is very important, as several feuds in the same party can lead to lost battles.
MINI-GAMES & SHOPPING
The shopping is somewhat randomized in Miitopia, as you can't buy stuff whenever you want. Instead, you can only give the necessary amount of gold needed for an item to one of your party so they can go buy whatever they are asking for. Even in this case, Mii's sometimes come away with an HP Banana (health potion) or MP Candy (MP potion) instead, in which case you get some gold back, and cannot try to get whatever they initially asked for again until later.
This means that items are generally acquired at random intervals–either by having a Mii ask for them and successfully buying them, by finding them in chests or on the ground in locations, or by getting them at the roulette wheel.
The roulette wheel is one of the two mini-games present inside the inns that you'll enter at the end of each map. Every time you visit an inn, the roulette wheel will change, and you'll have different odds of winning one of each thing: either a helping of food or experience, an HP Banana or MP Candy, a vacation getaway, or a certain piece of gear. Since gear is hard to acquire, it's best to first check the wheel before purchasing anything, so you can see if what you want is there and has good odds. If so, using your tickets to win it is smart, since it'll save you money, as you'll no longer have to buy it. If you do the wheel and win the gear, then doing the wheel again may not be smart, as you'll risk getting the same gear again (at which point it's sold for some money). The vacations are also very helpful, as gifting one (they must be used immediately) to one of your Mii's sends them on a trip with their roommate, and gives a big relationship boost. There's no loss of game time when a Mii does this, as they go and come back right away from their trip. Giving the trip to a Mii who currently doesn't have a roommate, or is fighting with their roommate, is unwise, as it results in them selling the trip tickets for 500 gold.
The other inn mini-game is a rock-paper-scissors game that you can play against a little TV-screen robot for a potential gift of 500 gold. Unlike the roulette game, where you always at least win an HP or MP potion, you only have a 33 percent chance of winning against little TV-guy. If you do win, however, you can choose to go double or nothing several times. Winning gold this way is a risky use of your tickets, but can be one of the few ways to increase your gold reserves fast.
Both mini-games require a ticket to play, and tickets are generally received in-game after you are randomly prompted to select Mii's that appeal to you from a random selection of premade characters. These occasional prompts help tailor the Mii's in towns to be more to your liking. Tickets are also occasionally found in chests, or granted by beating the Quizmaster, who is a Mii that shows up several times to challenge you to select your party members from line-ups or silhouettes of similarly designed Mii's. Like gear, tickets are somewhat rare, so using them wisely while at inns is critical to powering up your party.
conclusion
Now that you know the ropes, head out into Miitopia, and enjoy stomping those face-stealing monsters into submission with your new skills. The Mii's of Miitopia depend on you!
