StreetPass Quest/Find Mii and its sequels. Both free games built into the 3DS and accessible through StreetPass Mii Plaza, they're RPGs well worth playing. But are they good in their own right? Well find out in my review below. Read on!
On a technical level, it's not actually that bad. Yeah, the graphics look like something that could have been done on a DS or Gamecube, but when you keep in mind that this is a free game, they're actually pretty decent quality. Heck, nearly every movie/cartoon tie in game on 3DS arguably looks worse than this free software, which is just embarassing.
[attachment=904:Find-Mii-2-Screenshot.jpg]
^ Decent enough graphics for a free game.
Musically, it's actually quite good. Okay, it's no Mario Galaxy or Super Smash Bros Brawl, you've got no epic orchestrated themes with a Latin choir chanting ominously in the background. But the standard battle music is pretty catchy in its own right:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBCobfFCmzI
And the final battle songs (the ones used when fighting the Ultimate Ghost and Dark Lord/Emperor) are fairly catchy and rather epic in their own right:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBO4wezBPuI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54k-3xSRBbw
Yes, it's not all good, the themes for the Armoured Fiend and Archfiend have always seemed more than a tad dull to me and don't really inspire you to defeat them, but it's a decent enough and quite catchy soundtrack, and one you can listen to for free in Mii Plaza itself via the music player.
Gameplay wise though, it's fairly shallow. No, scratch that, very, very shallow, and even more so if you're playing the first game. At a basic level, it's pretty much a cross between a social game like FarmVille and an RPG like Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest. You walk around collecting Miis by StreetPassing people, or you pay for randomly generated 'Wanderers' to act as a (crap) army for hire.
However, there's a catch. You don't have turns as such. You don't have a healthbar either. Basically, when you run out of attacks, the enemy scares off the Mii or Wanderer and they can't be used unless you find or pay for them again.
This means that normal RPG strategies don't work. If it requires you to tank hits, it's useless here. If you're used to dodging, no luck here either. But it doesn't mean the games are as shallow as you think, especially the second title.
This is because of how attacks work. Each Mii/Wanderer has a shirt colour, and this dictates what magic powers they can use. Light Green ones can put enemies to sleep, Blue ones attack with water, Red ones fire and Orange ones give an extra turn to name just a few. This makes for a pretty interesting game of trying to find Miis with the right colour scheme to setup strategies and win certain battles.
And that's where Find Mii/StreetPass Quest 1 basically ends gameplay wise. Kill things, use different types of magic (half of which are useless), gather more troops.
But it's the second game where things really get interesting. Now Miis can team up for combo attacks, where they can use super powered versions of their magic abilities to either really hurt enemies or setup more complex strategies. Enemies can use magic to take away powers, upgrade defense and set up status conditions. Potions can be bought to dispell conditions and remove enemy magic.
Add to this more interesting enemy, boss and stage designs, and the second game is actually a pretty fun little hybrid of an RPG and a 'social' game.
However, there are problems that stop this becoming the great game it could be. For one thing, the second game arguably makes thinks a little too complex for what's basically a random system. Making the player find two Miis of the same shirt colour to get past different rooms is ridiculously tedious and difficult, especially if they live in a quiet or not very gaming obsessed area. The use of potions that break/fail to work randomly is basically like tripping in Brawl, an unwelcome luck mechanic that makes things take even longer, and the enemy strength might honestly be a bit much.
What do I mean by this? Well what I mean is that enemies tend to have both absurdly high amounts of health (between 50-70 is common for more difficult Find Mii 2 monsters), and sometimes unfairly high levels of defence. Like 2, which basically means anyone without 3DS owning friends or in a quiet area has to rely on luck and ridiculous over strategising and potions to have a chance in hell since Wanderers can't be at more than level 2.
This is a problem because as said, Wanderers are weak and Miis can be rare, and with only ten play coins legitimately collectable per day, anyone 'playing by the rules' will end up spending the equivalent of a week on a single room, more if they're unlucky. And God help you against the final bosses, the Ultimate Ghost (150 HP), Dark Lord (200 HP) and Dark Emperor (250 HP) are tough even for bosses in real RPGs, let alone ones which allow maybe 20 damage to be done a go.
But it doesn't make the game bad, just a bit worse than it should be. It's still an impressive little game for what's meant to be a minor daily distraction built into the system and available for free.
It's also got a lot of value what with two whole games and a secret quest to play through, and an impressively long list of hats to collect. Given that you have to play through each quest in game 2 about four or five times to get everything, that's a nice cool few months or year or so of gameplay, the equivalent to a normal RPG in social game terms.
[attachment=903:findmii2map.jpg]
^ Find Mii 2 map from GBA Temp. Impressive eh?
Of all the free games included with the 3DS, these are the ones with by far the most replay value and greatest length. Forget Face Raiders or Puzzle Swap, StreetPass Quest 1 and 2 combined will last you a long, long time.
In conclusion, StreetPass Quest 1 and 2 are pretty good free RPGs you can play on your 3DS right now, and arguably the best 'social' (aka Facebook style) games in history. They're probably not good enough that anyone would buy them seperately, but for zero cost I'd say they're an absolute bargain.
If you haven't already, try them now.
StreetPass Quest 1: 6/10
StreetPass Quest 2: 8/10
On a technical level, it's not actually that bad. Yeah, the graphics look like something that could have been done on a DS or Gamecube, but when you keep in mind that this is a free game, they're actually pretty decent quality. Heck, nearly every movie/cartoon tie in game on 3DS arguably looks worse than this free software, which is just embarassing.
[attachment=904:Find-Mii-2-Screenshot.jpg]
^ Decent enough graphics for a free game.
Musically, it's actually quite good. Okay, it's no Mario Galaxy or Super Smash Bros Brawl, you've got no epic orchestrated themes with a Latin choir chanting ominously in the background. But the standard battle music is pretty catchy in its own right:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBCobfFCmzI
And the final battle songs (the ones used when fighting the Ultimate Ghost and Dark Lord/Emperor) are fairly catchy and rather epic in their own right:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBO4wezBPuI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54k-3xSRBbw
Yes, it's not all good, the themes for the Armoured Fiend and Archfiend have always seemed more than a tad dull to me and don't really inspire you to defeat them, but it's a decent enough and quite catchy soundtrack, and one you can listen to for free in Mii Plaza itself via the music player.
Gameplay wise though, it's fairly shallow. No, scratch that, very, very shallow, and even more so if you're playing the first game. At a basic level, it's pretty much a cross between a social game like FarmVille and an RPG like Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest. You walk around collecting Miis by StreetPassing people, or you pay for randomly generated 'Wanderers' to act as a (crap) army for hire.
However, there's a catch. You don't have turns as such. You don't have a healthbar either. Basically, when you run out of attacks, the enemy scares off the Mii or Wanderer and they can't be used unless you find or pay for them again.
This means that normal RPG strategies don't work. If it requires you to tank hits, it's useless here. If you're used to dodging, no luck here either. But it doesn't mean the games are as shallow as you think, especially the second title.
This is because of how attacks work. Each Mii/Wanderer has a shirt colour, and this dictates what magic powers they can use. Light Green ones can put enemies to sleep, Blue ones attack with water, Red ones fire and Orange ones give an extra turn to name just a few. This makes for a pretty interesting game of trying to find Miis with the right colour scheme to setup strategies and win certain battles.
And that's where Find Mii/StreetPass Quest 1 basically ends gameplay wise. Kill things, use different types of magic (half of which are useless), gather more troops.
But it's the second game where things really get interesting. Now Miis can team up for combo attacks, where they can use super powered versions of their magic abilities to either really hurt enemies or setup more complex strategies. Enemies can use magic to take away powers, upgrade defense and set up status conditions. Potions can be bought to dispell conditions and remove enemy magic.
Add to this more interesting enemy, boss and stage designs, and the second game is actually a pretty fun little hybrid of an RPG and a 'social' game.
However, there are problems that stop this becoming the great game it could be. For one thing, the second game arguably makes thinks a little too complex for what's basically a random system. Making the player find two Miis of the same shirt colour to get past different rooms is ridiculously tedious and difficult, especially if they live in a quiet or not very gaming obsessed area. The use of potions that break/fail to work randomly is basically like tripping in Brawl, an unwelcome luck mechanic that makes things take even longer, and the enemy strength might honestly be a bit much.
What do I mean by this? Well what I mean is that enemies tend to have both absurdly high amounts of health (between 50-70 is common for more difficult Find Mii 2 monsters), and sometimes unfairly high levels of defence. Like 2, which basically means anyone without 3DS owning friends or in a quiet area has to rely on luck and ridiculous over strategising and potions to have a chance in hell since Wanderers can't be at more than level 2.
This is a problem because as said, Wanderers are weak and Miis can be rare, and with only ten play coins legitimately collectable per day, anyone 'playing by the rules' will end up spending the equivalent of a week on a single room, more if they're unlucky. And God help you against the final bosses, the Ultimate Ghost (150 HP), Dark Lord (200 HP) and Dark Emperor (250 HP) are tough even for bosses in real RPGs, let alone ones which allow maybe 20 damage to be done a go.
But it doesn't make the game bad, just a bit worse than it should be. It's still an impressive little game for what's meant to be a minor daily distraction built into the system and available for free.
It's also got a lot of value what with two whole games and a secret quest to play through, and an impressively long list of hats to collect. Given that you have to play through each quest in game 2 about four or five times to get everything, that's a nice cool few months or year or so of gameplay, the equivalent to a normal RPG in social game terms.
[attachment=903:findmii2map.jpg]
^ Find Mii 2 map from GBA Temp. Impressive eh?
Of all the free games included with the 3DS, these are the ones with by far the most replay value and greatest length. Forget Face Raiders or Puzzle Swap, StreetPass Quest 1 and 2 combined will last you a long, long time.
In conclusion, StreetPass Quest 1 and 2 are pretty good free RPGs you can play on your 3DS right now, and arguably the best 'social' (aka Facebook style) games in history. They're probably not good enough that anyone would buy them seperately, but for zero cost I'd say they're an absolute bargain.
If you haven't already, try them now.
StreetPass Quest 1: 6/10
StreetPass Quest 2: 8/10
