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I finished chapter one of Tokyo Mirage Sessions: FE just over three weeks after completing the prologue. I published a short “impressions” post after finishing the prologue (*see *Tokyo Mirage Sessions FE: Prologue Impressions). Now I will do the same for chapter 1.

• I continue to be unimpressed with the writing. It is not Fire Emblem: Three Houses caliber, much less Personas 3-5. The game likes to *tell *us how close Itsuki and Tsubasa are, but they have no “chemistry” whatsoever despite supposedly being childhood friends (separate and apart from Tsubasa’s barely-concealed attraction to Itsuki). But I suppose that they’re practically *Chie **and Yukiko *from Persona 4 compared to Touma (he’s just “there”). It struck me at the end of the chapter that the pop star Kiria Kurono seems to interact more naturally with Itsuki than Tsubasa or Touma despite having only met him 2-3 times (we need to do something about her outfits, however).
• Barry Goodman is a keeper though. I want to protect him.
• The overworld looks “not great” and navigation is atrocious. I do not like this game’s camera. Everything in Shibuya looks “the same.” The original Persona 3 workd on PlayStation 2 was much easier to get around. Not the best. Hoping we see some better-designed areas going forward (I’ll probably get used to Shibuya).
• The Kiria concert FMV was good. We have come a long way from Persona 3 and 4.
• My impressions of the first dungeon are mixed. Traveling through the arms of maid dresses to get from point A to point B was certainly a *choice. *I found navigation intuitive up to the mini boss, setting aside the fact that the default camera did not make the DOOR to the mini boss visible when I activated the first check-point warp panel. I found navigation difficult in the sections before the mini boss and the final chapter boss. “Maid dress” navigation is not intuitive, especially when all of the floors look almost the same as one another. This *sameness *is not an issue in games like Personas 3 and 4 where you know that each floor has a single exit. It is when you are asking me to solve weird navigation puzzles. Mirage Sessions’ dungeon exists in a strange place between Personas 3-4 and 5, and chapter 1 was not better for it.
• I noticed there were some inaccessible areas on the penultimate floor. I have a bad feeling about this.
• I continue to enjoy the combat system. Triggering combos is fun and the animations are sufficiently “showy” for the game’s performance theme. I also have a better understanding of how the passive abilities work than I did in the prologue. For example, I now see that whether a character can join a combo depends on the type of move used to start the combo and whether the character in question has a passive to join that type of combo. (I wish Itsuki could join Tsubasa’s zan attack with his sword instead of zio…).
• With that being said, the first dungeon did not allow for much combat creativity. I am playing on Hard (as noted in my prologue review). While the only serious challenges came in the form of savage shadow encounters (one of which may have led to my only death, I can neither confirm nor deny), there is almost always a single “correct” move, and on Hard I felt limited to playing a specific way to cut through battles efficiently and not accumulate too much chip damage.
• Being able to save at any time is a nice quality of life feature but it does remove some dramatic tension from the dungeon.
• I noted in my Prologue review that Mirage Sessions is much more “Persona” than “Fire Emblem.” This remains the case, but I appreciated seeing the Fire Emblem mechanic of gaining skills through weapon mastery. However, I did find it irritating having to leave the dungeon and go back to the studio every time a weapon upgrade became available. This is somewhat “important” in cases where a character has mastered every weapon in his or Tsubasa’s possession since there is an element of “waste” for gaining experience with a mastered weapon when a new weapon is available.
• Speaking of wasted experience, Touma seemed a little bit off in the first dungeon. Firstly, he is a lance-user like Tsubsa, so I had two lances, one sword, but no axe (where are the gauntlets!?). Secondly, his fire attacks were not much “in demand” in the first dungeon. There was only one enemy which really demanded them and this enemy came late in the dungeon (setting aside the fire having some use against the chapter boss’ minions). Moreover, I was stuck with his default weapon, long since mastered, for a few levels until a new weapon became available. Conversely, Itsuki and Tsubasa consistently got access to new weapons when they “needed” them.
• The ease with which I could leave the dungeon and heal took some drama out of SP management and allowed me to play aggressively and efficiently. I see that SP heals with certain actions such as defending (an action with limited utility thus far). I will need to learn this mechanic going forward.
• The difficulty feels “balanced” on Hard as in there was no point (save for some Savage encounters) where I felt “out-gunned.” I was introduced to a training dungeon in the middle of the chapter but unless it has quests, I doubt I will have any need to visit it.
• The chapter “concluded” one story point in a way that I did not expect (in that I had expected it to linger) and introduced a new party member and new supporting character. Having already complained about the dialogue, I will note the end of chapter dialogue was a *little *better than what came before and perhaps some new characters will add some variety to the (thus far) weak main trio.
• I am mildly interested to see how the game works with the theme of having Itsuki learn different aspects of show business, which was foreshadowed at the end of the chapter. I assume this will give each upcoming chapter a different theme.
• I played just into the start of the “intermission” period, which promises more character interactions and side quests. I did not do anything in the intermission yet other than obtain skills for my new team member and a new weapon for Itsuki, so that will have to wait for my next review.

Until I complete the first intermission!

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