How I would improve on Tokyo Mirage Session’s formula :

Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE was revealed in January 2013 as Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem in a very promising trailer, which showed official art of many of the protagonists of both franchises. It was a very vague teaser with no gameplay to speak of, but it seemed like it would be big, and it would be a great mismash of both series. On one hand, the official 2015 Wii U release was definitely a mismash of their gameplay, leaning heavily on Shin Megami Tensei’s battle system, but incorporating the weapon triangle, class changes, and some characters from the Fire Emblem universe. However, in every other aspects, it really did not live up to expectations.



The cast was exclusively made up of Awakening and Shadow Dragon characters, with a few mild references like the coffee girl being based off Ilyana from Path of Radiance, or certain weapons like the Durandal, Tyrfing or Ragnel. References exist, but that is all they are. None of the other games made it in any playable capacity. For many, that was deemed false advertsising, and it is very understandable. If it a shame, considering the actual quality of the combat system, but also, the criticism is completely understandable.



With this in mind, I want to think up of a way to make another potential Tokyo Mirage Sessions live up to the promise of that infamous teaser.




Mirage summoning :

In Shin Megami Tensei, there is a demon summoning mechanic that allows your playable characters to gain the assistance of demons who will influence what kinds of moves you can use. Some demons might provide great healing utility, while another might grant you more of a magic or physical arsenal. Summoning and improving these demons is a key feature of Shin Megami Tensei, and allows very varied team compositions. Mirage in Tokyo Mirage Sessions are essentially taking the role of those demons, but the problem is that they cannot be interchanged. Itsuki has Chrom and will always have Chrom.



In this version, mirage masters would start with a default mirage character, and be able to summon others. Furthermore, each character would represent a class. For example, if your main character is a lord, they may start off with a character like Roy, who would grant powerful sword-based physical fire attacks among other things, whereas Hector might turn that main character into an armoured axe wielder with physical lightning attacks as a reference to the thunder Armads. Equiping Sigurd would make you a sword cavalier, Micaiah would make you a light mage with healing utility, etc… This would allow you to recalibrate your team to your liking as well as providing great replay value.



Of course, not all characters need to be unlocked through summons. Perhaps the only way to recruit Soren is to have Ike equiped as a mirage and going through a little sidequest. Or maybe doing a sidequest with both and Sigurd and Deidre equiped will get you their son, Seliph.



It would create sidequest with tangible and interesting rewards, as each one essentially create a new playstyle for you to toy with.



Mirages would not necessarily be designed to be better than others, but simply help provide different team compositions.




Supports :


Earlier, I mentioned character-based sidequests. By using a certain mirage enough, you could build support points with this mirage and this is how sidequests would unlock. It would give you a little window into that character’s backstory, and maybe teach you things about them that the games haven’t expounded upon. It could lead to great boss fights against mirages based off of some of the more iconic vilains of the franchise.



Such a sidequest system is both a reference to Persona’s social links as well as Fire Emblem supports. It would add a lot of fun diversions between main story beats. They would not be necessary to beat the main game, but they would unlock an ultimate skill for that specific mirage



Story :


Because of the nature of the summoning system, the story would mostly center around the story’s protagonists, and the mirages may chime in on occasions. One way to get around having to write line sfor every single mirage in the main story would be to simply have the default mirage show up during some of the cutscenes. While not a perfect solution, it would make the summoning system far more feasible from a narrative perspective.



The story is a low point for TMS, but I do not necessarily think that the subject matter itself is the problem. The entertainement business can lead to interesting events and struggles. I would love to see darker themes like an entertainer’s struggle to remain relevant in a world where people’s attention gets pulled back and forth to multiple sources. I would like if they dialed back from the power of friendship trope and instead dealt with insecurities, and overcoming them, which would feel very Persona-like. Perhaps they could delve in different sides of entertainement, like a game designer, a rock musician, a writter, comedian, etc… Idol culture is a fun idea, but there is a lot more that can be explored.




Conclusion :



There is nothing inherently wrong with the concept of Tokyo Mirage Sessions, but it definitely could be made to be more in line with what was promised in 2013. Such changes would do much to make this closer to the dream collaboration.