A decade-old game and dialogues that never seem to end. That’s how I sum up my two-week-long adventure across the twelve new worlds that Lady Chou-Chou and the gang has set their eyes on this time around. Mugen Souls Z, which happens to be the sequel to 2012’s Mugen Souls, is what I would consider a weird adventure that’s marred by its overarching dialogue that just doesn’t know when to stop but let’s tackle that mess much later.
Mugen Souls Z is a pretty old game but its recent release on the Nintendo Switch brings forth a faithful recreation of its colourful cast of characters along with its vibrant worlds for you to explore. The anime-style graphics embrace the appeal of the “moe” culture to a T and create a strong yet charming visual treat that will have you chant “moe moe kyun” before you know it.
I’d be a coffin in laughter too if it wasn’t this crazy
“What kind of niche is Mugen Souls Z trying to fill?” This is something that has been boggling my mind ever since I started up this adventure many years ago. And while I didn’t get to actually finish the entire game back then… I’m probably glad that I didn’t either. Since as I said, Mugen Souls Z is a weird one. It tries to mash so many things in one package and at least for me, it failed to hit its mark.
Here, Lady Chou-Chou, the so-called undisputed goddess of the seven worlds, is now trying to conquer twelve more worlds along with her companions that she met in the first game. It’s a very common thing for gods to do I guess, but where it starts going crazy is when you eventually start a spaceship battle and transform your ship into an epic robot. Okay, actually that seems somewhat normal as well… but get this, Chou-Chou, who got sucked into a coffin after meeting Syrma, an ultimate goddess, shrunk into this small little chibi-sized Chou-Chou (and yes, I know I just said small, little and chibi in one sentence).
She lost most of her powers in the process which now, starts an adventure of finding every other ultimate goddess to get their powers sucked by the same coffin to release Chou-Chou’s powers instead. Oh, and did I mention that they get all slimy and gooey in there? But thankfully, the G-Castle, their base of operations, is also fitted with an indoor bath house which you’re able to use ever-so-often when you want to scrub-a-dub-dub all that goo away.
But just when I thought that it could never get crazier than that, entered the “Fetish 101 Tutorial”. This which seems sexier than it sounds is thankfully a bit more on the cute and charming side than something that will make me question my morals, if I haven’t done already. This feature, while mostly harmless, is probably the most hated thing I have in the game. But to put it into context, Chou-Chou or rather Syrma is supposedly required to fill the needs of her targets to be able to charm them to be her “peons”.
This ranges from going into all sorts of stereotypes we’ve all seen mostly in Japanese content like anime and manga. Syrma is able to transform from a sadistic personality to even the clumsy and the masochistic. It’s a whole lot to digest and it’s even worse to implement. And since it’s tied to the story and its progression, you can’t just ignore it and pretend that it isn’t a thing. This means when you’re not stuck in the overly prolonged dialogue, you’re out there running around and fulfilling the needs of each world.
A good combat system with tons of “unique” features
However, its saving grace to all of this is its solid gameplay and combat elements. I have always been a fan of turn-based RPGs ever since I was a kid and even in my 30s it still hasn’t changed. However, what makes this a lot more fun, is it doesn’t follow the more traditional RPGs I’ve grown up with. If you’ve played any of the Hyperdimension mainline titles, Death End re; Quest or even Fairy Fencer, it follows the same concept.
Characters are able to move around in the field within a certain distance based on their movement stats and you’re only able to attack targets if you get in range of them which makes the stat actually a valuable thing to increase if your character focuses more on doing physical attacks compared to magic where the range is usually higher. There are also all sorts of things that you can take advantage of during combat aside from overpowering them with attacks.
The blast-off mechanic which makes enemies or other interactable objects in the field ricochet off each other is a fun little addition that I’ve enjoyed so much especially when I reviewed Death End re; Quest a while back which had the same feature. There are a lot more things within its combat system though but we’ll save that for your own experience should you want to give this one a go later.
Mugen Souls Z is honestly a fun game. It’s a fun game but marred by its overly dragged story that doesn’t help its cause when a huge part of that problem is when the entire story itself feels like one huge tutorial where you’re barraged with new features each and every time you get out of cutscenes. And this is a huge shame because when you do get past its shortcomings, you finally get the Disgaea-like treatment where you experience the true game or at least that’s what I’d like to think.
Having a level cap of 9999, being able to build up super strong weapons that can deal billions in damage or even just being able to mix and match costume pieces out of the hundreds that are available for you to purchase in the shops, not to mention, creating your own customizable peon for hire with a couple of notable classes to boot. These are just a few of the things that await you if you choose to persevere through its grueling ride but whether that journey is worth it is kind of up to you.
Even for a decade-old game that first came out on the PlayStation 3, its updated visuals still stand out and carry the same charm as it did before. The visual novel-like storytelling and 2D sprites all have its own unique style but at the same time, it feels all too similar to a certain tactical RPG that I know. Meanwhile, the world and its various environments do offer a lot of variety and unique elements to keep itself from being stale and repetitive.
It never feels like an actual world more than it is a dungeon though, but the variety of it does provide a positive note for me. The game does also come with a lot of various bonuses to jump-start your adventure although some of them do really feel like you’re just cheating your way out of the game when you can literally get weapons that could just destroy enemies in a single hit. It’s there should you want it, but as always, you’re free to not activate it when you do start your adventure.
Conclusion
Mugen Souls Z on the Nintendo Switch was honestly a great idea. It’s packed with the “moe” aesthetics that I find hard not to fall in love with as a huge fan of Hyperdimension and its similar titles from the same company. Now, being a portable title also means the comfort of being “switch-on-and-play” where you can control your playtime and availability without having to be glued to your chair for an hour or two.
However, it does come at the cost of having a slightly harder pill to swallow with its weird story and features. The humor is there but the story becomes a bit too convoluted when they try to mix in so many filler scenes with the rest of the cast. The gameplay elements and its combat are definitely its strongest selling points but sadly it takes such a long time to really make it worthwhile.
Mugen Souls Z Trailer
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