Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore

 Switch
User Score
6.3

Mixed or average reviews- based on 258 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 145 out of 258
  2. Mixed: 34 out of 258
  3. Negative: 79 out of 258
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  1. Fallingroy
    Apr 22, 2020
    5
    Like it isn’t a bad game but it escapes being bad narrowly. The actual battle gameplay is great and the graphics are nice and the music is good but the character designs get pretty silly, the plot is dumb, and the characters are all cliches. It feels sad because there was clearly effort in the importance parts and if it had some good writers it could have been a super game but it is so not.
  2. Heiwa
    Jan 22, 2020
    5
    I really tried to like this game. I'm a huge fan of Atlus and SMT/Persona, but Tokyo Mirage is just shallow. It has a very shallow plot and I didn't care for the events nor the characters at all. All the Characters are super cliche and the main Protagonist is just bland. It tried to picture the Entertainment Industry in Japan, but does that in such a cheesy and ridiculous way, that I justI really tried to like this game. I'm a huge fan of Atlus and SMT/Persona, but Tokyo Mirage is just shallow. It has a very shallow plot and I didn't care for the events nor the characters at all. All the Characters are super cliche and the main Protagonist is just bland. It tried to picture the Entertainment Industry in Japan, but does that in such a cheesy and ridiculous way, that I just couldn't take that game seriously. Everything is just super colorful and flashy, glittery. They tried to put some "darker" and more emotional moments into the game, but even those didn't work for me, due to their rather poorly execution. For example, in the first chapter of the game during supposingly emotional mometn, a Character sings a song to a person, but since the actual song just contains "lalala" instead of actual lyrics it's rather ridiculous than emotional. The few things I enjoyed during my 15 hours of playtime tho , were the battle system and the dungeons. The Battle System was definitely the best part of the game for me, since it's pretty much like SMTs/Personas battle system, but with a few twists and turns. The dungeons worked rather samey, but I did enjoy the different designs of them. Overall I have to say, that I'm rather disappointed with Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore. In my opinion, a more serious tone highlighting the darker sides of that industry and a more fleshed out story and characters would have made that game a lot more interesting. It is a solid RPG at its core, but it's dragged down, by a poor Story and forgettable characters.… Expand
  3. thersus
    Jun 17, 2020
    6
    This game is not *that* bad... It's just a long series of strange design choices.
    If you like SMT for the dark and blasphemous themes, Fire Emblem for the political shenanigans, or Persona for the deep psychological and social interactions, forget it, you won't find any of that here.
    In terms of mechanics and systems, there are a lot of *inspirations* that can be found here - the skills    This game is not *that* bad... It's just a long series of strange design choices.
    If you like SMT for the dark and blasphemous themes, Fire Emblem for the political shenanigans, or Persona for the deep psychological and social interactions, forget it, you won't find any of that here.
    In terms of mechanics and systems, there are a lot of *inspirations* that can be found here - the skills you can use, the way you can learn them from your Mirages, the dungeon crawling, everything is very reminiscent of both the SMT series and a little bit of FE too. But they didn't carbon copy any of the games (or, at least, none that I played yet), so I can't say this game plays "just like X or Y", it is its own thing.
    You'll find fanservice in forms of costumes, characters and small nods to the original franchises, but nothing too connected to the sources - there are stores named after demons in SMT, there's the market clerk that is definitely-not-Anna, there's even some costumes based on Etrian Odyssey... But nothing makes sense in-universe whatsoever. Actually, not even the main plot makes much sense...
    ...And that's something that holds the game back. If you forget this game is supposed to be a SMTxFE crossover, you can really enjoy it as something unique. But then, from time to time, characters and situations get on the way of the plot in a way that I feel are there only to push the crossover idea forward. The Fire Emblem characters especially felt so out of place it hurts. And not only that, but the plot in general had potential at the beginning, but then turned into a drag 1/3 of the way.
    About the characters, I actually like some of then, others I don't mind, and one of them (Barry) I can't stand. But the writing sometimes gets really cringe worthy and boring to read. And since you're kind of forced to do all side stories in order to get some good skills, more often than not you'll feel the urge to just skip some (or all) of the dialogues. And no, side stories in this game are not even close in character depth and writing as the Social Links in Persona 3, for example.
    Now, after all that, what did I actually like in the game? Well, first of all, I think it looks beautiful. I played the game entirely on handheld mode, and it's one of the best looking games I have played on the Switch yet - it looks very smooth on the edges and textures, something that even first party games like Fire Emblem Three Houses get rough sometimes - and the animations are quite nice and full of life. The songs and movies are really well produced in general, even though I don't like J-POP, I feel they did a really good job.
    And the gameplay per se, I actually enjoyed it a lot. Most people will say the combat boils down to spamming sessions, and well, that's true - but doing that is somewhat fun and entertaining. After some time playing, most sessions will trigger automatically without putting much thought on it, and some powerful skills let you extend those sessions. The only problem is, those skills, as well as some other advanced attacks, will trigger randomly, which is a big letdown.
    As I am not a hardcore turn-based player, I found the game a little bit hard at the beginning (even playing on normal), until I started to grind a little bit and discovered more interactions between characters and their skills. But at the end of the game, it was actually too easy...

    My bottomline is, this game had a lot of potential that was thrown away with its weird concepts, but it is a fun experience if you take it lightly and go with the flow. And please, forget it is a Shin Megami Tensei / Fire Emblem game, it will be better for you.    … Expand
  4. SainxtrichX
    Mar 14, 2020
    7
    Está bien a secas. Los elementos de fire emblem son mínimos y se toman tantas libertades creativas que ni sé notan.
    El combate es divertido pero se transforma en sumamente tedioso y repetitivo para las últimas horas del juego.
    El inicio es lento pero a la mitad el juego se pone bastante interesante. Los más entretenido es la interacción con los personajes pero incluso esto es muy    Está bien a secas. Los elementos de fire emblem son mínimos y se toman tantas libertades creativas que ni sé notan.
    El combate es divertido pero se transforma en sumamente tedioso y repetitivo para las últimas horas del juego.
    El inicio es lento pero a la mitad el juego se pone bastante interesante. Los más entretenido es la interacción con los personajes pero incluso esto es muy limitado.
    Solo lo recomiendo a los fans hardocre de Shin megami tensei por lo demás mantente alejado de este juego si no eres fan de los JRPG y de la cultura japonesa.    … Expand
  5. Prrgangsta
    Mar 20, 2020
    5
    This game was my first game I played for my switch and I am just disappointed with it. I thought this would be like persona/smt x fire emblem but it is mostly just a reskin of persona. The only thing 'Fire Emblem' about it are the mirages who are named after FE characters. There is also the class change which is like FE but that is all there is to it.

    Before I start on anymore ranting    This game was my first game I played for my switch and I am just disappointed with it. I thought this would be like persona/smt x fire emblem but it is mostly just a reskin of persona. The only thing 'Fire Emblem' about it are the mirages who are named after FE characters. There is also the class change which is like FE but that is all there is to it.

    Before I start on anymore ranting though I want to say what this game does right and that is the combat and music. It feels good to combo an enemy with different attacks and stack up possibly a 10-hit combo or more. It feels rewarding for exploiting enemy weaknesses.

    The music is upbeat and is overall enjoyable

    Sadly those are the only good things about the game. Everything else is rather boring.

    Characters are uninteresting and the story is very generic for a jrpg. The main character is possibly the most boring and uninteresting character I have ever played in any game EVER! He has no motivation other than the main story's objective. The others are maybe slightly better since they have goals but you barely learn anything about them. As you progress their stage rank you unlock side stories but these side stories don't really go into their personal characters, instead it is just them learning how to get ready for their next gig. I don't learn how Touma and Itsuki are friends? why does Kiria want to be an idol?why did touma's parents abandon him? And so many more unanswered questions which would have made them interesting characters, but nope we gotta learn how to get ready for the next audition by killing monsters.

    The dungeons, while colorful and interesting, have boring puzzle design and are so easy to get through it barely challenges me as a gamer.

    Between each chapter there is an intermission that allows a player to perform sidestories or requests but it slows the pacing of the game so bad I have to force myself to play through these parts. Sidestories are useful for party member to learn other radiant skills but since they don't serve much of a story purpose I skipped through the dialogue after the fifth sidestory just to get through them faster. Requests are pointless DON'T DO THEM unless you want to save your money on slightly expensive items, seriously most of the stuff you get from requests can be easily bought from the stores in game.

    And the topic (cellphone) is the most annoying thing in any game ever. The characters more than half the time send you either messages telling you to basically move your ass to where ever they are or pointless bs that served no purpose. Hey Atlus remember how you did the phone messages in Persona 5? Stick to that.

    I picked this up because it is Atlus and I heard it was a sleeper hit but it is just a sleeper, as in it puts me to sleep.    … Expand
  6. RealCritic69
    Jan 18, 2020
    7
    If you enjoy the Persona games and their combat you will most likely enjoy this game. I absolutely love the combat and dungeons, however, it was very hard to feel engrossed in the world or story. If you’re not interested in J-Pop or Idol Culture it can be very painful to sit through segments of this game. The characters are interesting and likable, even if they are very cliché. The lack ofIf you enjoy the Persona games and their combat you will most likely enjoy this game. I absolutely love the combat and dungeons, however, it was very hard to feel engrossed in the world or story. If you’re not interested in J-Pop or Idol Culture it can be very painful to sit through segments of this game. The characters are interesting and likable, even if they are very cliché. The lack of a dub doesn’t make the game any better or worse, however, one would’ve definitely helped immerse myself in this world better. Overall, this is an enjoyable game but it may be too niche for most people to find value out of.… Expand
  7. vodkaffee
    Jan 20, 2020
    7
    i had low expectations for this game. and boy was i wrong. this is way better than persona 5. not better than smtiv but is a nice addition to the smt library. the battle system is way better and more complex than the press turn system. yes the jpop may be cringe sometimes but u can skip all of it. the story is actually pretty ok.
    the characters are likeable and u can change the stupid    i had low expectations for this game. and boy was i wrong. this is way better than persona 5. not better than smtiv but is a nice addition to the smt library. the battle system is way better and more complex than the press turn system. yes the jpop may be cringe sometimes but u can skip all of it. the story is actually pretty ok.
    the characters are likeable and u can change the stupid oitifts right away, a must buy for smt fans waiting for smt5    … Expand
  8. TalionSwift
    Jan 30, 2020
    6
    Great game, its really nice it came to the switch. The Combat is enjoyable, and i like the story and characters. But... i have to dock it 2 points for the pointless censorship i mean come on. We already have a niche genre and on top of it the Japanese idol premise makes it even more so, and with all that considered they think this stupid censorship helps them? The people who buy this typeGreat game, its really nice it came to the switch. The Combat is enjoyable, and i like the story and characters. But... i have to dock it 2 points for the pointless censorship i mean come on. We already have a niche genre and on top of it the Japanese idol premise makes it even more so, and with all that considered they think this stupid censorship helps them? The people who buy this type of game with somewhat odd premise for the west honestly dont care about the things they think need censoring. And the people who are the level of sensitive snowflake that this would be necessary for probably were not gunna play it to begin with.… Expand
  9. Drakoh
    Feb 17, 2020
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Aburrido y malo, lento y sin gracia. Es preferible saber que estas comprando antes de siquiera conseguir este juego.… Expand
  10. pmasterfunk
    Feb 3, 2022
    6
    The first thing you need to know before even considering playing Tokyo Mirage Sessions (TMS) is whether you are a weeb or not. Don't know what the word weeb means? Don't play this game. You know what weeb means and you ain't one? Don't play this game. You are a weeb? Read on.

    Now, for you weebs, you have to consider how much weebness you can tolerate, because I myself - a good 6/10 on    The first thing you need to know before even considering playing Tokyo Mirage Sessions (TMS) is whether you are a weeb or not. Don't know what the word weeb means? Don't play this game. You know what weeb means and you ain't one? Don't play this game. You are a weeb? Read on.

    Now, for you weebs, you have to consider how much weebness you can tolerate, because I myself - a good 6/10 on the weebish scale - could not endure the onslaught on J-Pop imagery and saccharine neon colors and cheesy characters this game threw at me. I dislike the characters. I low-key hate the music. I feel insulted by the stupidity of the plot. And I despise the musical numbers above all else.
    Which is too bad, because beneath that indigestible mix of Idol tarts and Boy Band dorks lies a mechanically solid game.

    It plays a lot like a mainline SMT game, which may not be for everyone, but I sure like it. The battle system is very similar to Strange Journey's, where hitting an enemy's weakness will make other party members do a follow-up attack. And it's fun, and can be surprisingly challenging. The first time I saw an enemy cast Javelin Rain, I knew I was going to get rekt. TMS can create a peculiar sense of impending dread not unlike what the PS2 SMT games did. Running into a tough enemy in TMS can feel like encountering Flauros in Nocturne or Samael in DDS, like, feces just got real. It's really refreshing to have to seriously consider your actions in a random battle where failing to kill an enemy before it strikes can be the difference between a washout victory and total annihilation. Most battles are over pretty quickly, and random encounters can be avoided, so exploring dungeons doesn't end up as an exercise in tedium. Said dungeons are reasonably varied, and not so long as to cause nocturnal anxiety and perspiration. It's not bad.

    But once the boss is beaten, a ridiculous cutscene will remind the player how dumb this all is. One worrying instance involves the main character - an oblivious 18-year old Japanese student - putting his hand on an 11-year old girl's chest, making her gasp in semi-orgasmic fashion, causing a ball of concentrated friendship to come out of her body.

    Yo wtf

    One of the first main plot points involves a "great disappearance", where a bunch of people disappear during a concert. Five years and some hijinks later, one person reappears, and you'd think that would play an important part of the story, but it's just like, "Yay, she's back!" and that's the end of that arc. No PTSD, no reporters showing up to ask what happened, no issues reintegrating into society, no asking what was it like during those five years, we're all just one big happy family. NGHHHHHHH

    Visually, the game is a mixed bag. Battle models are pretty good, battle actions are really well animated, enemy designs are okay, locales look decent enough (better than the last few Tales' games I've played at least), but some basic stuff kinda looks bad. All characters have this weird janky walking animation that falls directly into uncanny valley, and character's everyday life models aren't great. Menus look pretty good, and the game is responsive all around, but getting new skills and weapons is terribly bloated. To get new weapo- er, I mean, a new Carnage (yes, another Japanese game with stupid made up words), these can't be simply purchased, they need to be created by doing a "Carnage Unity". Le sigh. Anywho, that's not that annoying yet, but every time a new "Carnage Unity" happens, there's a magical-girl styled transformation animation that takes place. Every single time. I wanna create 7 new weapons right now, I'm tired of pressing B to skip. The same thing happens when creating new skills. I don't know, show it to me once and never again, this is not necessary.

    I'd be willing to look past most of the minor issues in the game considering how engaging the action is, but the story is so dumb that it actively disincentivized me from playing. If you happen to enjoy the visual style and J-Pop tomfoolery of Tokyo Mirage Sessions, you may be able to enjoy this game completely, minor mechanical gripes aside. I just can't.    … Expand
  11. ThePSButton
    Mar 26, 2021
    7
    'Tokyo Mirage Sessions' es un juego curioso y único, pero está muy por debajo de la calidad que usualmente manejan por separado las dos series que busca fusionar.

    Lo bueno: -Es muy interesante la manera tan lateral en la que combinaron ambas franquicias con el tema de las Idol y su industria. -La jugabilidad es como la versión amigable de Shin Megami Tensei. -Los personajes con    'Tokyo Mirage Sessions' es un juego curioso y único, pero está muy por debajo de la calidad que usualmente manejan por separado las dos series que busca fusionar.

    Lo bueno:

    -Es muy interesante la manera tan lateral en la que combinaron ambas franquicias con el tema de las Idol y su industria.

    -La jugabilidad es como la versión amigable de Shin Megami Tensei.

    -Los personajes con carismáticos.

    Lo malo:

    -Por muy interesante, esto es lo último que uno hubiera pensado que sería el resultado de combinar FE y SMT.

    -Lo que aporta Fire Emblem a la mezcla es más bien anecdótico. En su gran mayoría esto en SMT.

    -Demasiado fácil para su propio bien.

    En conclusión, es un título original en su concepto, entretenido y técnicamente muy pulido, pero que no tiene la calidad de las series que combina. Y bueno, temáticamente ni las representa bien realmente.    … Expand
  12. colme
    Jul 17, 2022
    5
    The story is not only predictable but also excessively cringy, especially on the first person dialogues. The combat system and the dungeons are real smooth though

Awards & Rankings

41
#41 Best Switch Game of 2020
19
#19 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2020

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
81

Generally favorable reviews - based on 62 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 53 out of 62
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 62
  3. Negative: 0 out of 62
  1. Nintendo Force Magazine
    May 1, 2020
    75
    It's probably kindest to think of Tokyo Mirage Sessions as a necessary stepping stone on the path to better games for everyone. [Issue #46 – May/June 2020, p. 74]
  2. ZTGD
    Mar 19, 2020
    90
    Time hasn’t aged this game one bit; I still found it as adorable as I did back in 2016. It is great that TMS is now available to a wider audience and hopefully will it get the sales it deserves. In my opinion it is not only the best JRPG on the Switch, but stands shoulder to shoulder with the best of all time.
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  3. Game World Navigator Magazine
    Mar 6, 2020
    79
    Compared to Wii U version, Encore offers not only prettier graphics, but new content as well. It’s not limited to a few new clothes or songs either; Encore has an additional storyline, as well as lots of nifty little additions. [Issue#243, p.52]
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