Miitopia

Miitopia is an RPG for the Nintendo 3DS released in Japan in late 2016, and worldwide in mid 2017. It was both developed and published by Nintendo. Miitopia is a sequel to the Tomodachi series, proceeding Tomodachi Life (2014). It was re-released as a Nintendo Switch game with some new features in mid-2021.

Prologue
Miitopia was once a land of peace and tranquility, but then the mysterious Dark Lord appeared and started stealing everyone's faces in order to create monsters. Meanwhile, a traveler passing gets attacked by one of these monsters and flees to the town of Greenhorne. Everything is peaceful there until the Dark Lord attacks the village and steals many of the faces. A worried mother, one of the few survivors, asks the traveler to rescue her son's face. She gives them the Antique Charm in hopes that it will help.

The traveler sets off and is confronted by the Dark Lord. The Dark Lord uses the child's face to create the Mini (Sassy Child) Slime to thwart their plans, but then the Antique Charm activates and brings the traveler to a divine realm where it introduces itself as the Guardian Spirit. The Guardian Spirit aids the traveler through gifting them a job of their chosing, allowing them powers capable to defeat the monsters.

The hero defeats the slime, rescuing the face and sending it back to the Sassy Child. After being rewarded by the mother, they set off to continue their journey of saving Miitopia.

Greenhorne
Over time, the Guardian Spirit calls upon three more travelers to help the hero. As they make their way to Greenhorne Castle, the Dark Lord attempts to finish them off, only to be stopped by the Great Sage, a traveling mage with great power. After providing words of encouragement to the new hero, the sage leaves them to their journey, claiming, "If fortune is on our side, we'll meet again."

In the Nintendo Switch version, as the party nears the castle, they save a horse who joins them for the rest of the journey.

At Greenhorne Castle, the party warns the king of the Dark Lord, but he dismisses it as merely a "tall tale." Coincidentally, his face is immediately stolen, but the party is able to rescue it soon enough. Grateful, he rewards the party and tells them to warn the princess as well.

The party enters the princess's room and tells her of the news. Worried, she asks that they check on her friend, the Besmirched Noble's Son. The party agrees and heads back to Greenhorne. When they return, the worried mother tells them that their child has gone missing. The party agrees, revealing that she had sent someone else before but never heard back.

In the fields of Easin Hills, the Besmirched Noble's Son has just found the Sassy Child surrounded by goblins. He attempts to fight, only to get knocked out cold. The party catches up and rescues the child. They then talk to the nobleboy and tells him the princess is worried about him.

The party then returns to the castle and reassures the princess that her boyfriend is safe. Eavesdropping, the king shows up and reminds her that she is betrothed to the Prince from a Nearby Land. The king then requests that the party escort the prince to the castle.

The party finds the prince waiting in the Arid Frontier. As they head back to the castle, he tells them he was waiting out so long because he was attacked by a monster. The party soon runs into a griffin, the same monster that had attacked the prince. They defeat the beast and continue their trek.

Back at the castle, the Besmirched Noble's Son had snuck into the princess's room. As the two have a peaceful moment, the prince enters catches them. He and the nobleboy start fighting as the princess attempts to break them up. The king quickly notices the commotion and asks the party to find the Calming Fruit to sooth them all.

The party finds the fruit and heads back to the castle, only to find it dark and raided. The princess's face is now missing and the nobleboy tells the party that the Dark Lord took it and is headed for Nightmare Tower. He runs to the tower ahead of the team to save his beloved, but when the party catches up, they see him get easily defeated by General (Princess). After beating the monster, everyone returns to the castle. Impressed with the Besmirched Noble's Son attempt to save his daughter and realizing how pathetic the prince was, he gives the nobleboy and the princess his blessing.

At the inn before entering Neksdor, the Dark Lord kidnaps the rest of the hero's party (minus the horse in the Switch version) and curses the hero with the inability to use their current job. Despite this setback, the Guardian Spirit allows the hero to chose another job to continue their journey and save their friends.

Neksdor
The solo hero heads to Neksdor to chase after the Dark Lord. The Guardian Spirit calls upon new traveling companions to aid the companion and replace their lost party.

Soon enough, the hero meets the Great Sage again. The Great Sage tells them they heard of all their success in Greenhorne and offers praise. The sage also tells them that they lost a dangerous lamp and warns them to not touch it if they spot it.

Meanwhile, the prince returns to his homeland distraught over losing the princess's hand. As he walks through the desert, he hears a voice coming from a floating lamp that promises to grant him any wish he wants if he sets the spirit inside free. The prince rubs the lamp, freeing the Genie of the Lamp. The genie reveals that the he was only tricking the prince about granting him a wish, and heads off to Neksdor Town to cause trouble again.

The hero meets up with the Great Sage to tell them about the loose genie. The sage thus teaches the hero how to reseal the genie and sends them off to find him.

The hero makes it to Neksdor Town and learns that the genie stole the Desert Celebrity's gold. After navigating through the Underground Maze, the party finds the genie and attempts to seal him back. During the incantation process, the genie begs for freedom and promises to return the gold. The adventurers let him free and he apologizes for the error of his ways.

Back in Neksdor town, the Dark Lord arrives ahead of the party and steals the denizens faces. The party travels around the desert, finding the respective monsters and returning the faces back to their owners.

Similar to last time, just before entering the next area the Dark Lord kidnaps the rest of the party and curses the hero, leaving them to get a new job and enter into the next region alone.

Realm of the Fey
Again, The Guardian Spirit calls upon new traveling companions to aid the companion and replace their lost party. The hero and the sage reunite, and the sage praises them for now resolving the problem in Neksdor. The sage also shows the hero how to make it to the Elven Retreat so they can catch up with the Dark Lord.

As the party arrives to the Retreat, they learn that the Dark Lord had made it there. The Youngest Fab Fairy shows up and explains what happened: the Dark Lord attempted to attack the Retreat, but the Fab Fairies were able to defend it. However, after the battle, monsters kidnapped her older sisters. The party offers to help find the sisters. After reuniting the trio, they perform a dance to open the East Gate, but the Dark Lord immediately shows up and steals the youngest sister's and the many of the other elves' faces.

After rescuing all the lost faces, the sisters open the door again to let the party continue their journey.

For the third time, the Dark Lord kidnaps the rest of the party, but is unable to curse the hero, likely do to their divine powers improving, according to the Guardian Spirit.

Karkaton
The solo hero makes it to Karkaton and finds a cave with three of their friends, now faceless. The Great Sage is also there, and tells the hero that they found them wandering around like that and took them to Haven Hollow to be safe. The two go on and are able to find their faces. After the hero finds it's friends, the hero is freed from the curse that the Dark Lord put on it and is free to change jobs at will.

The party and the sage enter the volcano and fight Cerberus, a monster with three of the missing party members' faces. After saving the Miis, they tell the hero that the remaining three Miis are in the Dark Lord's Castle. The sage parts ways for now, trusting in them and their team's ability.

The party fights more monsters and saves the remaining three Miis faces. As they venture deeper into the castle to fight the Dark Lord himself, they run into a dragon. After defeating the dragon, he is freed from his possession by the Dark Lord and introduces himself as Dominic. He thanks them for saving him and apologizes for the trouble he caused them.

Now face to face with the Dark Lord, they begin their battle. After the Dark Lord is defeated, the necklace he had breaks off and begins to flash ominously. The Dark Curse then floats out of it, and a regular, but confused, Ex-Dark Lord Mii is left behind.

As the lost Mii wanders out, the Great Sage enters and congratulates the party for finally defeating the Dark Lord. However, the Dark Curse quickly returns and attempts to possess the hero. The magician blocks the attack, but ends up becoming the new Darker Lord, an even stronger evil being with the powers of the Great Sage. They disappear, leaving the Miis worried.

The Guardian Spirit reawakens and encourages the Miis to keep moving forward. As the Miis ponder where to go next, Dominic finds them and offers them a ride.

Traveler's Hub
High in the skies, Dominic suggests that the adventurers head to the Traveler's Hub to gain some intel on how to find the Darker Lord. They learn that the Darker Lord is hiding in The Sky Scraper, so they travel all across Miitopia to find the jewels that can open its entrance.

The Sky Scraper
As the Miis climb the tower, they encounter a faceless Ex-Dark Lord and save his face. Wanting to make up for being the villain, he joins the party as they make it to the top. Along the way, they encounter monsters made from the faces of many notable characters they had encountered before, having to free them once again.

The Ex-Dark Lord leaves the party at the entrance to Otherworld, explaining that it is too cursed for a normal human to enter.

Otherworld
The party finally makes it to Otherworld to face off with the Darker Lord. The Darker Lord fuses with the power of many faces to become the all-powerful Darkest Lord. All 10 teammates fight off the Darkest Lord together, being victorious once more. The Great Sage is freed and is able to trap the Dark Curse before it can strike once again. Restrained, the Great Sage explains its past:

Once there was a regular Mii who became severely depressed after not feeling noticed enough. The Mii felt that it was the fault of his own face, so he cast it away. However, without his face, he could not exist long. Eventually his body disappeared, leaving his soul behind as the Dark Curse.

Ending
The Great Sage asks the hero what should be done about the soul. There are two endings, depending on what the player choses to do with the Dark Curse.

"Harsh Punishment"
The hero choses to put the soul out of its misery with their divine powers. As it is destroyed, it thanks the hero for ending the pain. All the remaining stolen faces are automatically returned to their owners and Miitopia is in peace once more.

"Forgiveness is Divine"
The hero choses to save the Dark Curse by giving him a new face. The curse becomes human again and thanks the hero for saving him. He is then put under the apprenticeship of the Great Sage to atone for his actions. All the remaining stolen faces are automatically returned to their owners and Miitopia is in peace once more.

Gameplay
Miitopia uses typical turn-based RPG mechanics, but with some unique features. Miis traverse the land through a series of maps. When they pick an area of the map to explore, they walk (or run if the player holds any of the buttons that speeds up the game) across a side-scrolling stage. At times chests will appear, and the Miis have a choice to open them or leave them be. Battles are typically triggered at random, unless approaching a boss or opening a cursed chest. Inns mark the end of these stages, though if night falls before the Miis can reach one they will stop and set up camp. In towns, the player can freely control the hero in a 2.5D space. In these areas, they will be able to interact with non-player characters in order to progress with the story.

Mii Making
A significant feature in Miitopia is the ability to create all of the characters. The 3DS version has its own Mii editor that is essentially the same as the system's except that it includes more hair and eye colors. The Switch version uses the same Mii editor as the system but adds two new features: Makeup and Wigs. Makeup allows the player to add shapes and other details to the Mii's face, and Wigs can be used to create different hair styles for the Mii. If a Mii has to wear a hat for their role in the game their wig will be removed and replaced with their regular hair under the hat.

Over the course of the game, as new characters are unlocked, the player can cast their Miis as these characters. The same Mii can be used for different roles, and the Mii can be changed or edited at any time.

Battles
Up to 4 characters can be brought into battle, in addition to any NPCs that decide to join and the horse in the Switch version. The player is only able to control the hero; all other characters use AI. The player can chose to toggle autobattle for their character, allowing them to depend on AI for deciding moves.

All party members have one basic attack and a set of skills ("Magic/Skills") that can be learnt over time as their level increases. These skills, however, cost MP when used. Magic/Skills can have a variety of affects, such as healing teammates, increasing damage, or reviving fallen teammates.

In the Switch version when the horse is brought into battle, it will sometimes be active during a Mii's turn. For autobattle and the other teammates, they will automatically use Horse Assists when this happens, which are extra moves that deal greater damage. Yet when this happens during the hero's turn and autobattle is off, the player can chose whether or not to use Horse Assists. Additionally, when the hero's friendship with the horse is at level 15+, Horse Whisperer is unlocked, a signature move with an effect that depends on the hero's job and costs the entirety of their max MP.

Leveling Up
There are two forms of "leveling up" in Miitopia. The most straightforward is in jobs: as Miis gain EXP they will improve in their job and gain new abilities over time. Their stats will also improve with every level they reach. Jobs can be changed, but the levels will not be carried over. Instead, they are saved in each job (ie. a Mii could be Level 15 as a Thief and then switch to a Cleric and begin at Level 1, but when they switch back to Thief their level in that job will still be 15).

The second form of leveling up is Friendship. Friendship is a measurement of how strong the relationship between two Miis is. The more this level increases, the more assisting moves the Miis can learn together. Friendship with the horse unlocks more and more Horse Assists over time. While Friendship does not go down, it can be paused due to Resentment. Resentment prevents Miis from using assists for whomever they are angry with. Additionally, it can cause the Mii to perform detrimental actions, such as not healing the offender in question or blocking their moves. Friendship will not increase until Resentment is completely removed from the relationship. If two Miis are resentful to each other, a Quarrel can occur. A Mii cannot be resentful towards the horse nor can the horse be resentful to any of the Miis.

Inns
Inns mark the end of each stage, represented by a gate and then a cutscene of Miis entering a large building with a sign that reads "INN". The player is then brought to a screen that shows 5 rooms and an additional room when there is an NPC tagging along at the time. In the Switch version, there is a stable on the left for the horse. Every night when the Miis enter an inn, they will first increase Friendship with their roommate (if they have one) and then go to bed, restoring HP and MP. In the morning, some Miis will be interacting with their roommates, allowing the player to view a cutscene with them that further increases their Friendship.

There are a number of things players can do at Inns.

Spend Gold
The player can check if any Miis are thinking of buying anything. The player can chose to give the Mii a certain amount of gold required to purchase the item. When given the gold, the Mii will go and purchase the item. Usually they will get what they planned, but sometimes they may buy the wrong item or strike a deal and bring back more than expected. If they buy the wrong item they will return a portion of the gold back

Eat Grub
The player can feed Miis grub that they collected through their journey. Each grub boosts a certain stat or multiple stats. The more a Mii enjoys the grub, the higher the effect will be.

Check on the Team
The player can move Miis into different rooms. This is so that players can select which friendship levels to improve, since every night Miis will increase their score with their roommates. Sometimes Miis will want to be in a room with a certain person, and pairing that Mii with them will cause an interaction cutscene that increases Friendship. Pairing Miis that have Resentment between them will decrease it's level but will not improve Friendship until Resentment is completely gone.

Arcade
There are two minigames here: "Roulette" and "Rock, Paper, Scissors," each costing one Arcade Ticket to play. "Roulette" spins a wheel, awarding the player with a random prize. "Rock, Paper, Scissors" has the player play the well-known game with a computer to win gold.

Outings
Introduced in the Nintendo Switch version, outings are special events that the player can use to grow Friendship among Miis. At the Inn, the player can select which location to send Miis or can chose to send a Mii out with the horse. When the coup

le returns, they will bring back a item as a souvenir.

Set Off
This allows the player to select which Miis to take into the map. Up to 4 Miis can be chosen at a time, and the hero must always stay in the party (with the exception of the post-game or a team split up event in which the hero may not be available in one of the parties). The player can also chose whether or not to include the horse in the Nintendo Switch version.

Trivia

 * There are details throughout the game telling the future of some of the characters.
 * At some point, the Genie of the Lamp sends the hero a letter telling them he got hired by the Desert Celebrity.
 * In the ending credits, the Princess and the Besmirched Noble's Son are getting married.
 * If the player saves Dark Curse, he will be shown (in human form) playing with a puppy healed by the Great Sage in the ending credits.
 * At the last dinner meeting, the party discusses their plans after defeating the Dark Lord. In the post game it is revealed they decided to keep in touch and continue helping people all over Miitopia.
 * Miitopia may be based on the "Tomodachi Quest" minigame from Tomodachi Life, being that both are light-hearted RPGs starring Miis.
 * It could also be based on "Find Mii" from Streetpass Mii Plaza, especially since both games involve a villain called the "Dark Lord" attacking a royal family.
 * If certain wigs are worn by the hero (or a party member in the postgame), if they move up on a 2.5D area, you can see that the Mii's head isn't fully modeled in the back.