Komasan is in this game
Thank you sending me the grimy and certainly untested copy your employee found on the side of the road on the way to work, fuck you gamestop
The first thing to admit here is that Yo Kai Watch is not a good monster tamer. Yo Kai are essentially random drops that you have to hunt for and likely will not obtain on a consistent basis. Having to check under every single car in an area to find the one Yo Kai you are looking for only for it to die without joining you creates so much conflict between the player and the expectations of a monster tamer that friction is inevitable. Yo Kai Watch treats collecting monsters like it is a passive process, or perhaps like a mobile game where you have to keep spinning in order to obtain a desirable outcome. The iconography of the Gatcha machine is frequent in this world so it's not hard to see the connection.
Of course with that being said perhaps that is not the best way to criticize Yo Kai Watch. The game is very intent on being a passive experience, and the combat holds an enjoyable novelty because of that. You are given a very large amount of usable Yo Kai through the story anyhow, there's no expectation placed on the player to obtain specific Yo Kai in the wild. The only active element in obtaining new Yo Kai is through figuring out their favorite food and trying to manipulate the RnG to go in your favor with that knowledge. So where does that leave us?
Realistically Yo Kai Watch is at its best when it is a game about the lackadaisical carefree world of a child in the Summer. One where going to downtown Tokyo and stopping some spirits from causing people to forget where they put their keys is todays big adventure. The obvious attempt at merchandising that Level 5 did to treat this as a hallmark children's anime and merchandise line does give the game its own charm. The most true to the spirit game about living the childhood power fantasy that so many of those Slice of Life shows portray.
It's pleasant in that way, though likely to be held up as such since Boku no Yatsumi has never been translated out here in the West. I find the game to be... decent overall. The charms here are nice to talk about, but never really engaged me on any personal level. The friction that was often set in when I tried to acquire the Yo Kai I liked the designs of and was met with frequent, hours lasting failure. The direct sequel (which was released exactly 364 days after the first game) is more refined and palatable, but it's the same schtick pretty much.
Of course with that being said perhaps that is not the best way to criticize Yo Kai Watch. The game is very intent on being a passive experience, and the combat holds an enjoyable novelty because of that. You are given a very large amount of usable Yo Kai through the story anyhow, there's no expectation placed on the player to obtain specific Yo Kai in the wild. The only active element in obtaining new Yo Kai is through figuring out their favorite food and trying to manipulate the RnG to go in your favor with that knowledge. So where does that leave us?
Realistically Yo Kai Watch is at its best when it is a game about the lackadaisical carefree world of a child in the Summer. One where going to downtown Tokyo and stopping some spirits from causing people to forget where they put their keys is todays big adventure. The obvious attempt at merchandising that Level 5 did to treat this as a hallmark children's anime and merchandise line does give the game its own charm. The most true to the spirit game about living the childhood power fantasy that so many of those Slice of Life shows portray.
It's pleasant in that way, though likely to be held up as such since Boku no Yatsumi has never been translated out here in the West. I find the game to be... decent overall. The charms here are nice to talk about, but never really engaged me on any personal level. The friction that was often set in when I tried to acquire the Yo Kai I liked the designs of and was met with frequent, hours lasting failure. The direct sequel (which was released exactly 364 days after the first game) is more refined and palatable, but it's the same schtick pretty much.
The way this game portrays summer vacation is fantastic. I had a total blast walking through the town, speaking with the locals about the weather, fucking around while catching bugs, and hanging out with those friends who aren't reaeeeally all that nice but you are stuck with because you are a little kid. It's very well realized, and very charming. But it's not what the game is actually about.
Attached to the amazing presentation you have a monster collecting game which is perfectly serviceable but falls into many of the same pitfalls of the genre. The most dissapointing of all is the combat system, which is way too passive and way too easy. Early in I decided not to use the super powerful moves each of the monsters had and I was still beating every single encounter, first try, with literally no inputs from my end. The story is very cartoony and has charming moments but I just didn't like the Yo-kai focus all that much to be honest. I was more enthralled with the summer vacation than all the little ghosts from this other dimension that cause every single problem the humans have, it practically removes all interesting character drama from the equation.
Level 5 often gets criticized for focusing their attention too much on the style and very little on the substance, but I disagreed because I always found their games to have really fun core gameplay, even if they were not particularly deep. Here, though, it's the first time I mostly agree. There's just not a lot to enjoy aside from the charm.
Dropped it, but I will probably give a chance to the next entries. I heard they improved a lot.
Attached to the amazing presentation you have a monster collecting game which is perfectly serviceable but falls into many of the same pitfalls of the genre. The most dissapointing of all is the combat system, which is way too passive and way too easy. Early in I decided not to use the super powerful moves each of the monsters had and I was still beating every single encounter, first try, with literally no inputs from my end. The story is very cartoony and has charming moments but I just didn't like the Yo-kai focus all that much to be honest. I was more enthralled with the summer vacation than all the little ghosts from this other dimension that cause every single problem the humans have, it practically removes all interesting character drama from the equation.
Level 5 often gets criticized for focusing their attention too much on the style and very little on the substance, but I disagreed because I always found their games to have really fun core gameplay, even if they were not particularly deep. Here, though, it's the first time I mostly agree. There's just not a lot to enjoy aside from the charm.
Dropped it, but I will probably give a chance to the next entries. I heard they improved a lot.
This was a game I would constantly hear was a "Pokemon ripoff" and I only found out about it due to the Anime being shown on Disney XD. I can assure you that this game is very much its own thing and it's amazing. The story is great with some solid characters. The monster collecting system is as good as ever here. The gameplay is very fun and has a lot of depth to it. The music is really good and memorable. This game was a blast to play through and I only hope that Level 5 decide to port Yo-Kai Watch 4 to the west soon. The Yo-Kai Watch games are terribly underrated and I hope more people play this wonderful franchise.
9/10
9/10
hugely underrated game, better than most pokemon games i've played. the battle system is really unique and fun, and the game itself is really charming and just a great time
As somebody who is not an "RPG guy" I still think that Yo-kai Watch is an amazing game and should get more recognition in modern day.
It's not a bad game at all but it is a boring one. Until the last chapter anyways, I'm starting to think I've out grown these types of game though. I probably would have enjoyed this more if I had played this game when I cared for Pokemon. But now after playing I just feel empty because nothing felt gripping but that's only the fault of growing up. I don't wish to be a child again but I will miss my low sense of enjoyment I had back then.
Pretty fun and unique still better than modern pokemon.
Such a fantastic game, obviously had its flaws but the Yo-Kai Watch series needs another chance.
Ich liebe diese Reihe. Ich hoffe, dass bald neue Games im Westen kommen :(
I sincerely wish all who called this game a Pokemon clone a very death by pipebomb
yo kai watch 1 was a good game but compared to the other games it lacks content.
Please play this series, it's incredible and packed with content.
La nostalgie
Should have paid more attention to this game years earlier
Coining the term "Yokai Watch syndrome" for games that are heralded as killers of billion dollar franchises that end up dead on arrival likely because of that stigma (Mainly applies to this in the West)
There's a lot I like about Yo-Kai Watch, like the fact it takes place on a much smaller scale than a lot of JRPG's. For example the whole game takes place in one city and its outskirts, so instead of a scaled down city that you can fully explore in 20 minutes, this one really feels like a liveable place. This also means dungeons are just stuff like old mansions, or abandoned hospitals.
The Yo-Kai themselves vary a lot in quality. They're far from my favourite set of monsters in a creature collecting game, but there's some good ones. A lot of uses of recolours though. Where they really shine in their actual role in the story, be it in the main story or in side quests that make use of their unique gimmick powers effecting the world around them. Sometimes they even act as a gameplay mechanic, like the mirror yo-kai which you can use as a fast travel system.
What I don't like about the game is the battle system. Yo-kai will attack randomly with either a physical, elemental or status move (either good things for your allies or bad for the opponent). They have those 3 moveslots and will never learn anything new. The 4th slot is the only manually activated one, which is the "soultimate", which as the name implies is an ultimate move. Since the moves are chosen at random you'll get dumb shit like a physical yo-kai using special moves, or using a status effect instead of finishing off an enemy. Each one does have a personality type that will effect which move they're more likely to choose in battle, but that only takes you so far, and you're ultimately left just watching as your creatures act like idiots.
Activating the soultimate will generally one shot most common enemies, but even this gets tedious since every time you do one you have to do a little mindless mini-game with the cutscene and there are exactly 3 different prompts. So you can expect to do these 3 tasks over and over and over, and it just becomes a pain in the ass. They're as simple as just spinning the stylus in a circle.
So generally there's little strategy actually in battle, and most of it takes place in the team building. You want a team that synergies well. Each monster has an "tribe" and if you put yo-kai of the same tribe next to each other in battle they will get a little boost to a stat depending on the tribe. You can also obviously use ones that have movesets that synergise well, such as something that has a status effect that makes a team member more likely to be targetted by enemies and a wall with huge defenses, that way your glass cannon can be more likely to survive. Only problem is, since moves are all chosen at random I don't know if the AI is even smart enough to have the status effect be put on the wall and not the glass cannon (I have to give them the benefit of the doubt here since I never tried anything like that).
Bosses are definitely where the game shines. Since these battles take much longer you can't just end them with one soultimate. Even using all 6 of your team members at the start of the battle will likely only do around 20% of the total HP, then for the rest of the fight you're constantly micromanaging your members health bars, reviving dead ones, and "purifying" them when they get a negative status effect (this involves moving them out of rotation and playing a similar touch screen game to rid them of the effect). All the while finding chances to use the soultimates again once they've recharged. It doesn't matter that your yo-kai attack by themselves in these battles because you as the player are left with so much to do just keeping them alive. Also the bosses will have different areas you can target to take advantage of weak points, like blinding a giants eyes so his accuracy is lowered, or attacking hearts in the background of the fight so the boss can't use them to heal.
Perhaps my least favourite thing about the game is the horrendous RNG when it comes to befriending yo-kai. You have a random chance to get one of the 3 yo-kai you defeat in a battle to walk up to you at the end and ask to join you. There's some ways you can improve the chance, like having a team member with a specific skill, and using the enemies favourite food on them (which have different tiers). But even when you use all of the tools in your arsenal, using the highest possible rarity of food that is a particular enemies favourite (which by the way you'll have no way of knowing without a guide or trial and error) you can still fail dozens of times in a row. Like even AFTER you boost the chances it feels like throwing a pokéball at a legendary when its at full health, it's just that bad. It's even worse when you throw food at one yo-kai, only to have a different yo-kai you didn't want be the one to approach you at the end.
So yeah, cool vibes, a lot of side content and things to do, a decent, though heavily mixed, bag of monster designs, but a battle system that's boring outside of boss battles and an RNG system that makes trying to get what you want extremely frustrating.
At least it has monster fusing which is something I've wanted out of Pokémon for ages.
The Yo-Kai themselves vary a lot in quality. They're far from my favourite set of monsters in a creature collecting game, but there's some good ones. A lot of uses of recolours though. Where they really shine in their actual role in the story, be it in the main story or in side quests that make use of their unique gimmick powers effecting the world around them. Sometimes they even act as a gameplay mechanic, like the mirror yo-kai which you can use as a fast travel system.
What I don't like about the game is the battle system. Yo-kai will attack randomly with either a physical, elemental or status move (either good things for your allies or bad for the opponent). They have those 3 moveslots and will never learn anything new. The 4th slot is the only manually activated one, which is the "soultimate", which as the name implies is an ultimate move. Since the moves are chosen at random you'll get dumb shit like a physical yo-kai using special moves, or using a status effect instead of finishing off an enemy. Each one does have a personality type that will effect which move they're more likely to choose in battle, but that only takes you so far, and you're ultimately left just watching as your creatures act like idiots.
Activating the soultimate will generally one shot most common enemies, but even this gets tedious since every time you do one you have to do a little mindless mini-game with the cutscene and there are exactly 3 different prompts. So you can expect to do these 3 tasks over and over and over, and it just becomes a pain in the ass. They're as simple as just spinning the stylus in a circle.
So generally there's little strategy actually in battle, and most of it takes place in the team building. You want a team that synergies well. Each monster has an "tribe" and if you put yo-kai of the same tribe next to each other in battle they will get a little boost to a stat depending on the tribe. You can also obviously use ones that have movesets that synergise well, such as something that has a status effect that makes a team member more likely to be targetted by enemies and a wall with huge defenses, that way your glass cannon can be more likely to survive. Only problem is, since moves are all chosen at random I don't know if the AI is even smart enough to have the status effect be put on the wall and not the glass cannon (I have to give them the benefit of the doubt here since I never tried anything like that).
Bosses are definitely where the game shines. Since these battles take much longer you can't just end them with one soultimate. Even using all 6 of your team members at the start of the battle will likely only do around 20% of the total HP, then for the rest of the fight you're constantly micromanaging your members health bars, reviving dead ones, and "purifying" them when they get a negative status effect (this involves moving them out of rotation and playing a similar touch screen game to rid them of the effect). All the while finding chances to use the soultimates again once they've recharged. It doesn't matter that your yo-kai attack by themselves in these battles because you as the player are left with so much to do just keeping them alive. Also the bosses will have different areas you can target to take advantage of weak points, like blinding a giants eyes so his accuracy is lowered, or attacking hearts in the background of the fight so the boss can't use them to heal.
Perhaps my least favourite thing about the game is the horrendous RNG when it comes to befriending yo-kai. You have a random chance to get one of the 3 yo-kai you defeat in a battle to walk up to you at the end and ask to join you. There's some ways you can improve the chance, like having a team member with a specific skill, and using the enemies favourite food on them (which have different tiers). But even when you use all of the tools in your arsenal, using the highest possible rarity of food that is a particular enemies favourite (which by the way you'll have no way of knowing without a guide or trial and error) you can still fail dozens of times in a row. Like even AFTER you boost the chances it feels like throwing a pokéball at a legendary when its at full health, it's just that bad. It's even worse when you throw food at one yo-kai, only to have a different yo-kai you didn't want be the one to approach you at the end.
So yeah, cool vibes, a lot of side content and things to do, a decent, though heavily mixed, bag of monster designs, but a battle system that's boring outside of boss battles and an RNG system that makes trying to get what you want extremely frustrating.
At least it has monster fusing which is something I've wanted out of Pokémon for ages.
Kind of like yakuza except what it’s like bing a little kid in Japan during the summer instead of a crime boss who likes being silly
"The only people who call Yo Kai watch a pokemon rip off, have never played it"
made the mistake of thinking this had no value on its own as anything but a pokemon clone (even though it is a little) and was incredibly surprised!!
I take a picture of an old man and become god
Awesome game i think
Whisper go cracka-lacka boom boom
2nd time playing, but its been 5 years since the first, and man was it a enjoyable experience to revisit this game. The combat, the down-to-earth plot, and the writing are all wonderful and a breath of fresh air from other monster-collector JRPGS. The main story doesn't drag; in fact, its rather short, making the postgame the true meat of the game. Some points are knocked off due to befriending Yo Kai is entirely RNG and the lack of variety of Soultimate/Purify actions making it somewhat repetitive later on but all in all this is a JRPG thats a must play if you have a 3DS
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Yo-Kai Watch is an odd game to me. I remember playing it a long time ago, and enjoying it so much I went out of my way to complete the medallium. But it’s been so long since I played Yo-Kai Watch that I completely forgot what the game was like. I’m a big fan of Monster Tamers, and I’ve just been in the mood to play some good ones, so why not finally replay Yo-Kai Watch?
Firstly, one thing I absolutely adore about Yo-Kai Watch is how cozy it is. You’re in a small town for the majority of the game, exploring around, seeing whatever silly hijinks occurs with Yokai. While I definitely enjoyed exploring the world of the game, I also just found it really relaxing. The game’s story also adds to the sort of cozy nature of the game. Until the last chapter of the game, it’s very low stakes. Honestly, each chapter feels like a single episode of a cartoon you’d watch on a Saturday Morning as a kid, and not many other games I’ve played had this sort of vibe. While I didn’t grow up with this game, the structure of the game’s story still gave me a sense of nostalgia.
And mechanically, Yo-Kai Watch is a really interesting game. I think this is the only Monster Tamer I’ve played where you don’t directly control the monsters themselves. And I can see how people don’t like that, there’s a bit of luck that goes into this as you have to hope that your Yokai do what you want them to. Though I sort of like this. It makes the Yokai feel like alive in a way, at least more alive than the creatures in other Monster Tamers. And on top of all of this, there are ways that you can impact the battle. Rotating out which Yokai are in battle, using items, or making your Yokai use special moves. The battles in Yokai Watch are really interesting, though only some of the late game bosses made me heavily focus on them.
And as I described somewhat earlier, I really like Yo-Kai Watch’s story. It’s not anything too complex, in fact it’s extremely simple. But that simplicity works so well for the general vibes that Yo-Kai Watch has. Honestly the final chapter of the game kind of came out of left field, it’s much more serious compared to the rest of the game. Though yet again, I think it’s good, and the actual ending of the game is kind of unique in a way. The story creates this nice vibe that I think I’ve done my best to describe. It’s really cozy, and it does feel like I’m on a Summer Vacation.
I’ve described this earlier but I’m a big fan of Monster Tamers. My first ever game was Pokemon, and I’ve also played the likes of Shin Megami Tensei, and Digimon. One of my favorite aspects of Monster Tamers is the aspect of collecting them, trying to get as many as I possibly can. And that’s where I have a bit of confliction with Yo-Kai Watch. It feels so difficult to actually befriend Yokai. It’s already a bit hard to find specific Yokai you’re hunting for, and actually befriending them is much harder. Sometimes it takes 20 minutes just to hunt a single Yo-Kai, and I’m unsure if that’s a skill issue on my part or not. The odds just feel ridiculously low, even after having a friendship boosting yokai and giving the yokai its favorite food. Though this being an issue for me is probably not that big of a deal. The game definitely seems to push the player to relax, and take things slow, which is something I’m unable to do.
As well, the actual cast of Yokai in Yo-Kai Watch is odd. There are some absolute amazing and creative designs in Yo-Kai Watch. Though saying that, it’s really unfortunate to me that a lot of my favorite Yo-Kai are locked to postgame only, so I don’t get a chance to use them. With this in mind, there’s a noticeable amount of Yo-Kai that are reskins of other Yo-Kai. The first noticeable one is Castelius, that has 4 different versions. But theres also like likes of Illoo, Wiglin, and Heheheel. While in a typical RPG I’d be completely fine with enemy reskins, in a Monster Tamer I’m not particularly fond of it. Unfortunately, it motivates me less to complete the game’s medallium, as part of why I enjoy trying to find every creature in a Monster Tamer is to see each unique design. Ultimately this is a personal thing, but I want to at least acknowledge it.
Yet again, Yo-Kai Watch is a really interesting Monster Tamer to look back on. It’s not perfect, and I imagine that the later sequels polish the game in some form, but Yo-Kai Watch is still a really fun game. I think once I get around to playing them, I should be able to better my perspective from having played this one. I’m just glad that I finally got around to replaying this game, it’s such a unique little title.
Firstly, one thing I absolutely adore about Yo-Kai Watch is how cozy it is. You’re in a small town for the majority of the game, exploring around, seeing whatever silly hijinks occurs with Yokai. While I definitely enjoyed exploring the world of the game, I also just found it really relaxing. The game’s story also adds to the sort of cozy nature of the game. Until the last chapter of the game, it’s very low stakes. Honestly, each chapter feels like a single episode of a cartoon you’d watch on a Saturday Morning as a kid, and not many other games I’ve played had this sort of vibe. While I didn’t grow up with this game, the structure of the game’s story still gave me a sense of nostalgia.
And mechanically, Yo-Kai Watch is a really interesting game. I think this is the only Monster Tamer I’ve played where you don’t directly control the monsters themselves. And I can see how people don’t like that, there’s a bit of luck that goes into this as you have to hope that your Yokai do what you want them to. Though I sort of like this. It makes the Yokai feel like alive in a way, at least more alive than the creatures in other Monster Tamers. And on top of all of this, there are ways that you can impact the battle. Rotating out which Yokai are in battle, using items, or making your Yokai use special moves. The battles in Yokai Watch are really interesting, though only some of the late game bosses made me heavily focus on them.
And as I described somewhat earlier, I really like Yo-Kai Watch’s story. It’s not anything too complex, in fact it’s extremely simple. But that simplicity works so well for the general vibes that Yo-Kai Watch has. Honestly the final chapter of the game kind of came out of left field, it’s much more serious compared to the rest of the game. Though yet again, I think it’s good, and the actual ending of the game is kind of unique in a way. The story creates this nice vibe that I think I’ve done my best to describe. It’s really cozy, and it does feel like I’m on a Summer Vacation.
I’ve described this earlier but I’m a big fan of Monster Tamers. My first ever game was Pokemon, and I’ve also played the likes of Shin Megami Tensei, and Digimon. One of my favorite aspects of Monster Tamers is the aspect of collecting them, trying to get as many as I possibly can. And that’s where I have a bit of confliction with Yo-Kai Watch. It feels so difficult to actually befriend Yokai. It’s already a bit hard to find specific Yokai you’re hunting for, and actually befriending them is much harder. Sometimes it takes 20 minutes just to hunt a single Yo-Kai, and I’m unsure if that’s a skill issue on my part or not. The odds just feel ridiculously low, even after having a friendship boosting yokai and giving the yokai its favorite food. Though this being an issue for me is probably not that big of a deal. The game definitely seems to push the player to relax, and take things slow, which is something I’m unable to do.
As well, the actual cast of Yokai in Yo-Kai Watch is odd. There are some absolute amazing and creative designs in Yo-Kai Watch. Though saying that, it’s really unfortunate to me that a lot of my favorite Yo-Kai are locked to postgame only, so I don’t get a chance to use them. With this in mind, there’s a noticeable amount of Yo-Kai that are reskins of other Yo-Kai. The first noticeable one is Castelius, that has 4 different versions. But theres also like likes of Illoo, Wiglin, and Heheheel. While in a typical RPG I’d be completely fine with enemy reskins, in a Monster Tamer I’m not particularly fond of it. Unfortunately, it motivates me less to complete the game’s medallium, as part of why I enjoy trying to find every creature in a Monster Tamer is to see each unique design. Ultimately this is a personal thing, but I want to at least acknowledge it.
Yet again, Yo-Kai Watch is a really interesting Monster Tamer to look back on. It’s not perfect, and I imagine that the later sequels polish the game in some form, but Yo-Kai Watch is still a really fun game. I think once I get around to playing them, I should be able to better my perspective from having played this one. I’m just glad that I finally got around to replaying this game, it’s such a unique little title.
Really cool combat mechanics, but with really flat filler content. Fetch Quests galore, while the quests can get stale, the game is filled to the brim with personality. A creative approach to the genre.
more love put in it than pokemon tbh
Yo-Kai Watch was a fun romp through what is essentially a game-sized episode of a TV show. The characters and Yo-Kai designs are cute and fun, and the plot isn't anything too great, but that's to be expected within a kids game. The world was overall my favorite part and I just loved exploring and looking in every little nook and cranny possible. The only downside is the combat and the game can get somewhat repetitive and boring. Other than that, a very solid game.