Yo-Kai Watch 3 Review (3DS)

The timing of this game's localization leaves me hope that Yo-Kai Watch 4 is coming West sooner rather than later. Then again I may be reading into this a bit; I just want YKW4, that game looks super good!

Okay, what kind of First Mini game on this version (English) ?
I remembered the Sushi / Tempura version, Nate will eat Sushi / Tempura as many as he can.
And what are the changes?

“Combining the three versions released in Japan in 2016 – Tempura, Sushi and Sukiyaki – this complete iteration of the game gathers all of the exclusive Yo-Kai together into one tasty package, as well as adding in a special 'Blasters' mode you could only access in the Sukiyaki version.”

Oh that’s awesome!!

Finally! I waited so long for this game, as they have thankfully made the battle system more engaging. I can easily manage my time playing on the Switch and 3DS, so I will definitely pick this one up.

It's been secretly a nice year for my 3DS, i've added Radiant Historia, Detective Pikachu, WarioWare Gold, Luigi's Mansion and now Yo-Kai Watch 3 to my collection.

Well that was sudden. I didn't know this was dropping at all!

@ilikeike I think it would be stupid of Level 5 not to put out 4 in the West as soon as possible. The game looks great and what I played of it was quite fun. I wasn’t interested at all before giving it a whirl.

I suppose I 'll finally give it a try with this entry.

I want it but finding somewhere to buy a physical copy from is hard. The UK nintendo store is out of stock

Looking forward to this. Liked the first game, loved the second... But I won't get it on launch day. The first two dropped in price really fast around here, so maybe I'll get one on the cheap. I'll have some other games to play until then.

Eh I'll wait for Yo Kai Watch 4, I don't really get it..

The American game comes to America last.

@IHateTombs This is confirmed to be Level-5's last game for the 3DS, with PQ2 being Atlus's last game as well.
Square, Capcom, and Sega also have nothing planned for the device, despite being the biggest supporters.
Regardless if Nintendo plans to support the device, third party support is just about done.

Can't wait ! on its way to me. VERY EXECITED and even more happy with that score

While the previous YW games were, as much I don't like to admit it, more of an acquired taste things, I think this version deserves to be noticed in the west, so once YW4 comes out, it won't pass under the radar of most Switch owners.

I urge anyone who might not have been entirely sold on the last few Pokemon games, to give a chance to this franchise. You probably won't be converted entirely, but might become a little bit more discerning when it comes to future games released in the monster catching genre. At the very least, ditching of dual versions is definitely something that consumers should appreciate.

Great to hear! I'll hopefully be getting this for Christmas!

I wonder how the port from YW2 works? Does it give you bonuses or can you bring over all the previous YO-KAI You've caught ???

I’ve always been very intrigued by YoKai Watch. Not sure why that curiosity has never translated into me actually BUYING a game. I was thinking that I’ll wait until YoKai Watch 4 comes to Switch buuuuuut...maybe I’ll pick up this one first.

@IHateTombs there are only three upcoming games total for 3DS. Two are first party ports and the other is a third party game that’s already been released elsewhere and is undergoing localization. Said third party is the only one with an upcoming game and they’ve already made it clear this was their last 3DS game. No doubt 3DS will receive some more shovelware here and there, but so did the Wii well into the Wii U’s life. Nintendo will certainly milk 3DS sales as long as they can but I’d bet money that, at most, they’ll just throw the 3DS a few more ports and that’s it. Any third party developers are moving on now that the Switch has been proven to be successful. The handful of games we’ve seen this year were in development before Switch was released (or shortly thereafter); it’s expensive to change platforms mid-development. This small overlap isn’t uncommon, in fact it’s more uncommon to pull the plug as instantly as they did with Wii U.

I understand if you’re in denial but it is highly unlikely the 3DS will have any releases after Etrian Odyssey Nexus aside from possible ports or shovelware.

Glad this series is doing well and that the latest entry has so much to offer for fans. Not my cup of tea, tried the first one and just didn’t like anything about it, but hey, everyone has different tastes. Considering the YW games started on the 3DS, it’s fitting this is one of the last games to release on it.

Besides, Pokémon could use some competition!

Funny how Europe gets the American version first, but anyway glad that it has all games from Japan combined, this and Etrian Odyssey Nexus are probably my last 3DS games

I'm playing through Yokai Watch 1 right now and enjoying it immensely, i'm getting Psychic Spectres for xmas and having seen footage of Blasters, i will order that as soon as possible as it looks great, i have fallen in love with the series.

4 on Switch looks phenomenal, i can see it being the break-through hit for the series in the west, i just hope it doesn't take too long to be localised.

Still need to play Pokemon Moon so it would be a long time before I got around to Yokai Watch. Would like to play it but am really strapped for time.

These are somehow more addicting then the Pokemon games to me. So I'm definitely getting this one!

@harlowlad The YKW games don't use monster transfers. I personally always hated monster transfer because it potentially gives you the option to start the game off with stupidly strong max level monsters that remove the challenge. In addition, it gives the developers an excuse to just make you buy more games to get every monster by keeping certain monsters game-exclusive. YKW makes it generally so you can get 90% of the monster count bar the version exclusives in a single game. From my understanding, if you have a certain version of YKW2, you'll get a specific Rare S Rank Yo-Kai you can't get any other way. Bony Spirits lets you get Jibanyan S, Fleshy Souls gets you Komasan S and Psychic Specters gets you Komajiro S.

@ShadJV Out of curiosity, what DIDN'T you like about the first games? Pretty much any of the problems the first game had no longer exist in the sequels.

@ZionWario pretty much everything. I hated every bit of the battle mechanics, I hated how monsters were obtained, I hated the story, I hated the art style... I’m sure there’s people that love all of it and that’s cool. But I can’t see any sequels worth a purchase to me considering there was literally nothing I liked about the first. Games are too expensive to just buy another in a series I didn’t like because it supposedly “got better”. I’m glad they improved problems, I just don’t care for the series. There’s enough other games on my wish list that I have yet to get to, and between Let’s Go, World of FF Maxima, Monster Crown (a KickStarter monster taming game coming to Switch that I backed and loved the beta), and next years new Pokémon game, I have a lot to fill that itch that I do enjoy.

Maybe a future YW demo will come and change my mind, but for now, I know I didn’t enjoy anything about the first so I’m not about to shell out $40 for the latest.

@ShadJV So purely preferential factors then and you'd rather spend more money (60 dollars) on a game with even less content. Very well then.

Yokai Watch died out hard among my students. When I first came to Japan it was going strong, looking to challenge Pokemon. But in the last year or so basically all my kids have stopped talking about it. Even in the elementary school.

@ZionWario yes, preferential. Everyone likes different things and from the first game and the bits of the show I saw, I don’t like it. If I don’t like it then yeah, not worth a purchase to me.

And maybe it has more content than the Let’s Go games but more content doesn’t mean a better game to me. It took me over 40 hours to beat Let’s Go, I already am replaying it a second time and plan to at least a third one, in my main file I haven’t quite finished the Pokédex yet and only beat one Master Trainer (have 150 to go there), am working on a team of online battles, and am really into shiny hunting, all of which at least adds dozen of hours to it for me. Plus Smash comes out in two days so I’ll have to take a break from it. To me, the game has enough content for $48 (the amount I paid because I got 20% when I preordered it earlier this year) and I’d rather pay $8 more for a shorter game I like than buy a larger game I don’t like.

I don’t get why you say “purely preferential factors”. That’s all games (and any other hobby) are about, preference. You buy the things you like. And once again, the amount of content hardly dictates price, there are plenty of games bloated with content that are generally agreed to be awful and games light on content that are celebrated.

@ShadJV Just because you don't like a game, it doesn't mean you can't look at it more objectively. Could you elaborate on how far you actually got in the first game to hate it? I ask because from my experience, the people that hate the game only played the demo and did no further research.

Besides, as far as quality and being a "better game", goes, the numerous flaws Pokemon has had since its inception just don't exist in other monster collecting RPGs that have come before it and after it. YKW just happens to be another example of such as it has far more to offer and doesn't struggle with Pokemon's issues.

I could easily list all of the qualities that make YKW3 easily worth way more money in terms of being better than LGEP provided you'd be willing to listen.

Also, could you provide examples of game with little content that are considered good and games with lots of content that are considered bad or are you just making a baseless claim?

I fail to see how the Master Trainers are considered content worth money since it's just more braindead NPCs with a level advantage with your reward being ingame text that does nothing but it's your money and not mine.

@ZionWario don’t exactly remember how far, borrowed it from my old roommate. If a game doesn’t sell me in the first hour or two I’m not gonna pay to keep playing, there’s a lot of games out there and more than enough that are fun from the start... why bother if it’s not going to be wholly enjoyable?

Whether a game is good or not is 100% subjective. Every game has people who think it’s good and bad. Is it that hard to understand? Not everyone will like this game. Not everyone will like any game. Generally the only two things I’ve seen as flaws in Pokémon are random encounters (removed from the latest entry) and IVs (still there unfortunately, along with the new AVs). And to some extent the lack of breeding.

I’ve played most monster collecting series and I’d disagree, in my opinion Pokemon is better than them. I don’t know why you’re arguing with opinions. No media is objectively good or bad, it’s all entertainment and everyone likes different things. I’m glad YKW3 is better than the predecessors, but I am not going to spend money I can’t afford to spend on a game I have no interest in just because someone online insists I’ll like it better than another game I already have. List your reasons all you want and I’ll be happy that it’s improved, but that doesn’t change the fact that I don’t care for the YKW franchise as a whole. And so it won’t magically be worth money to me if I don’t like it.

That’s like being like, “look at this $40 meal! I can list all the reasons it’s better than the meal you ordered, and it’s a few dollars cheaper,” to someone who doesn’t like ingredients used in said meal. It doesn’t matter how you sell it, not everyone will like it because everyone has different tastes and taste is SUBJECTIVE.

But okay, I’ll bite and ask the questions pertaining to the parts of monster collecting games that I like:
1) How is the competitive meta? Is there a lot of players who play online? Are there clear tier lists for new players? Though if every monster is perfectly balanced competitively then I guess it beats Pokémon there, the series could definitely use better balance for it, and battling is my favorite part of these games.
2) What’s the breeding mechanics like? I love being able to hatch my own team, breeding in moves I couldn’t get normally - heck, this is what sold me on Monster Crown, you can cross breed two monsters to create new species with all sorts of traits, abilities, and color differences depending on the parents’ DNA programmed in. Sadly Let’s Go doesn’t have breeding (in case you point that out and think I’m trying to be a smartass), definitely isn’t the perfect Pokémon game and I wouldn’t claim it is (I wouldn’t have gotten it if I had to pay full price).
3) Is there an equivalent of shinies? I love shiny hunting, it’s really rewarding to put together my dream team with shinies after the work of finding them, and I’m glad it’s only aesthetic so I don’t miss out on anything when I choose not to.
4) Are they minigames optional in this one? I honestly hate minigames (outside of a game like Mario Party where that’s the point) but most in Pokémon have been skippable thankfully, like Contests and the Pokeathalon, at least to beat the game and complete the Pokédex.
5) The review also mentions auto-attacks still exist, can I turn that feature off? I don’t like auto-attacks in games, I generally stick to turn based RPGs over action but when I do action RPGs... no auto attacking, I like full control.

Those are generally the features I like in my Pokémon style games, so that’s where my value will come from. Competitive battling, shiny hunting, and breeding. And my biggest problem with the battle system previously was the auto attacking, I like more controls over the battles.

@ShadJV In other words, you barely played it and didn't learn about the control elements of the battle system via book items or learn of the actual plot about the evil steward his racism.

No, it really isn't. Quality of a game is objective. Liking a game is subjective and liking a game doesn't make it good. I personally love Sonic '06 for its story and especially music but I'm not stupid enough to recommend it or claim it's an actually good game given everything that's wrong with it.

Care to name some actual examples then if you're so experienced? I can tell you Dragon Quest Monsters handles it breeding system in a manner that makes Pokemon's look like a joke in addition to a far superior following feature but I'm sure you've played that game. I can tell you Shin Megami Tensei handles plot way better since you can actually join the bad guys if you wish for alternate endings while Pokemon fans are stuck wishing they had the option to join Team Rocket but I'm sure you've played that game. I can tell you Yo-Kai Watch basically handles everything better than Pokemon. Actual challenge, better stat system, monsters with actual personalities, faster pacing, far more variety to its competitive meta, a better grasp on grind vs reward, etc and yet you clearly haven't actually played that game.

1. Amazing actually. Since the game has an official competitive banlist that's actually fair and consistent, there's a ton of variety to offer and has an extremely skill based meta. Also helps that players on the online ladder get super useful items for ingame. Compare this to Pokemon whose players usually have to use fanmade tiering systems like Smogon to get any kind of variety while their official VGC format is generally a cookie cutter meta any year that isn't 2014 where Se Jun was only able to get away with Pachirisu purely because VGC staples that take a big fat dump all over it like Landorus-T and Thundurus-I were banned that year.

2. WAY better than Pokemon's. Unlike Pokemon's IV system that forces you to go for a perfect 31 in every stat, YKW makes it so that innate stats can only get a good value in ONE stat but the cost is that you'll get a bad value in another stat. The formula is written so that innate stats generally lean towards a more balanced spread and in the higher levels, the numbers make much less of a difference. This effectively makes the IV system COMPLETELY optional so you can actually go play the game unlike Pokemon whom just makes it mandatory for a competitive team and make you walk your avatar around for hours just to get one monster with a spread you want.

3. Actually yes in a sort of way. Yo-Kai Watch does a thing similar to Dragon Quest where recolors are their own monsters but not nearly as repetitive. The recolors are generally very Rare, have extremely high trade value, are hard to get and they also work completely differently from the original monster in addition to their colors being noticably more exotic. For instance, compare the Fire Attribute B Rank Yo-Kai Multimutt to the Earth Attribute A Rank Yo-Kai Sir Berus. I guess it's kinda preferential but I always hated shinies because at the end of the day, they're just recolors that tend to have terrible color schemes compared to the originals (to the point a good amount of the fanbase wishes to fix them with better color schemes) and would take YKW's Rare, strong and actually different recolors over shinies.

4. Yes but they're not required though they do help a ton. The Busters minigame is like Pokemon Rumble but better in about every conceivable way with how much more depth it has, its online multiplayer, how it helps with the grind, etc. I'd have to write up an entire essay explaining the Busters mode for how much depth it has. It's generally only necessary for particular Rare and powerful monsters besides helping you with grinding. Plus playing a single Busters session takes only like 10 minutes anyway. There's also the optional dinner minigame and idol catgirl dancing mini game but I don't know the full details on those ones yet.

5. If you'd actually play the first game fully (which you clearly didn't) you'd know about the book items that completely control what a Yo-Kai will do during battle so that they can do what you want to anyway while you focus on all the other battle factors of removing debuffs/status conditions, wheel placement, poking, Soultimate usage, etc. Even then, if you want a turn based RPG that also has auto attacks that can also give you full control that is also far better than Pokemon, I highly recommend playing Dragon Quest Monsters.

So with all this in mind, YKW should honestly be better to you in practically every way.

Is this game even available in Europe? I'm in France and couldn't get it in my supermarket (nor could the man handling the videogame section find it to order !).

@Rei Did you check the eShop?

@ZionWario No, I know it is there but I never get formless videogames unless they're exclusively virtual, incredibly expensive or 8-16bits.
If I really can't get it as something solid, I'll eventually get an illegal copy while waiting for a used cartridge but it would be annoying for a end of life game with a probable limited output.

It's weird because the Blaster game was easier to get (too bad I had no money because it's now at 45€+)

"seemingly immortal" AHAHAHAA! That's a hilarious line, because Nintendo's own report says the 3DS dropped 65% year-on-year, so I guess dropping hard makes it immortal! It's also going to continue this massive slide as time goes on, because look at how retailers are treating it, it's getting less and less shelf space, which means less and less sales, which means less and less shelf space- it's going to be fully gone by the end of 2019, just watch.

I finally found a copy on Amazoone. I double-checked that it was a multi-lingual euro version of course. I just received it and it happens to be fully translated... in english (only the manual features the 5languages). Nice one for a game who crosses USA and Japan, I'll play it all in english -_-
Well, at least, I hope I'll find someone willing to unpack the original game and distribute a voice patch.

Welp I’m Skipping Yo-kai Watch 3 Because It’s LEVEL-5’s Last Game on Nintendo 3DS Most Importantly The Snack World and Yo–kai Watch 4 For English Version I Hope I Will Predict They’ll Change the Name on the West Also LEVEL-5 Will Bring Yo-kai Watch World in English Because It Looks Like Pokemon GO

@DuskformLycanroc I know how you feel: That's why to make things easier, I bought the digital version! They could have a digital version from where you are, IDK. But if you're lucky, they will!

It's a pretty good game. Solid gameplay,a bit slow at the beginning, things start to pick up towards mid Chapter 5 onwards. At times the gameplay can be a bit repetitive, though I suppose the fun is in the battles and trying to pick up random items. One thing I noticed that it's harder to get talismans from the old man at the shrine even as I'm about to start Chapter 5 [for both Nate and Hailey]... I don't recall having to wait so long to purchase it when I was playing YW2...

Anyways, overall, I adore this game!

I've been trying to get this game ever since it came out, but I can't find it ANYWHERE!