[TGS 2016] Megami Meguri impressions

Nintendo Everything was at this year’s Tokyo Game Show! We had a low-key presence at the event, but we did manage to try out several upcoming Japanese 3DS titles. Look for our impressions in the coming days.

Megami Meguri is Capcom’s upcoming new 3DS game where players communicate with and raise an IC card spirit. The regular game, a free-to-play experience, will be fully downloadable from the eShop. However, there will be also physical Collector’s Package (at 5,800 yen) and a limited Complete Edition at e-Capcom (9,800 yen) that will also come with extra memorabilia.

A demo of Megami Meguri was available at Tokyo Game Show 2016. When we started playing, Amaterasu greeted us in her human form, explaining what we are expected to do to raise the spirit, before converting to a chibi form.

You can rename not only the player’s name, but also the spirit heroine’s name (whose default name is Tsukumo, and we’ll refer to her with this name from hereafter). For each name (and also phrases later) you input, Tsukumo will try to generate pronunciations of them with the Megami Speak Engine. If you’re not satisfied with it, she will try to offer some variations in the pronunciation tones, which you can choose or instead even ask her to try regenerating the variations again.

When you meet Tsukumo for the first time, she can’t even speak a single word and can only murmur. Your objective is to teach her words by telling her your favorite things when she asks. Each time Tsukumo learns a new word, her Cleverness stat increases. There are also other stats like Strength and Kindness, for a total of five stats, which can be raised by obtaining new costumes. These stats will be used for the latter part of the game flow.

The in-game progression in Megami Meguri is done in Sugoroku-style (the western comparison would be Monopoly or Game of Life) where you proceed through spots based on dice numbers. Events will happen based on the spot you land on, which range from you teaching Tsukumo new words to obtaining new costumes.

At the end of a chapter there will be some sort of a final exam, where Tsukumo will be required to perform five times based on each stats and reach a certain total score to graduate and increase her rank. During the exams, you can support her to raise her scores by triggering a simple crossword puzzle. Support can be done max twice in a skill segment.

According to the official footages, IC cards can be read for Tsukumo to generate discussions about stations you have visited. But when we played the demo, there were no occasions to use those cards at all, so it might be an optional feature in the game.

Considering Megami Meguri is very heavy on its Japanese culture and livelihood with the Japanese goddesses, train stations, and IC cards, we think it might be unlikely for Megami Meguri to ever have a localized version. However those who do have a Japanese 3DS and are learning the Japanese language may want to try it out once the free-to-download edition is released on December 8.