@roykoopa64

It gets really repetitive as the game goes along. Most of the same characters end up using the same lines over and over again. Wonder-Red is the only one they ever really do anything with from a dialogue standpoint, maybe Wonder-Blue to a lesser extent. The rest of the characters are mostly useless and again, just keep re-using the same few lines (some rather annoying). A few parts are genuinely funny, but I thought the humor missed for the most part and there's just too much of it for my liking. The game could have easily been a few hours shorter by trimming the non-gameplay-related padding, which I think would have been to the benefit of the game.

@Mr_Mustache

At a certain point early in the game, you can buy the block and dodge techniques, and I recommend you get to know them well (and probably upgrade those as well when possible). You have to be very defensive during combat because the game will punish you dearly for trying to get greedy with your attacks.


Anyways, I did beat the game a few weeks back and should probably weigh in with my thoughts. I really, really liked the spectacle of this game. It's a fun thrill ride from beginning to end, with some really awesome over-the-top sequences. It was also very rewarding by the end of the game to get better and better at the combat, to the point where I felt very comfortable in varying up my arsenal so that each encounter felt more unique and not like busy-work. But I also think that this point came much later in the game for me than it did with Bayonetta. You always had a lot of tools available and throughout that game, I was constantly trying out different techniques during each battle. There's a higher learning curve with TW101 in that regard.

Aside from my issues with all of the talking, my one real gripe with the game is the uneven pacing of it. I thought some operations went on for far too long, partially due to long dialogue stretches in the middle, but also because the game tended to get away from its strengths in the middle stretch. I thought the game really had some great set piece moments that involved using the characters' unique abilities to traverse the environments in really cool ways, particularly early in the game, and the occasional emphasis on platforming was a great way to bridge the gap between each battle arena. And at some point, that was tossed aside in favor of more missions that feature gameplay that doesn't make use of the characters' abilities at all (i.e. a lot of the flying missions, of which the game is heavily backloaded with). I feel that's both the games greatest strength and its greatest weakness; that it dares to try all sorts of different and unique things that you don't see very many games doing these days, but the result is that some of these ideas really work and some just don't work at all.

I also was a bit befuddled by the scoring system. A lot of times, I'd get all Silvers/Golds/Platinums on the individual missions, and then my overall operation score was a Bronze or a Consolation Prize. I mean, I'm hardly the best player at character action games and I'm usually not too concerned about how I score, but it's a bit disheartening when I know I actually did well, and the game gives me a crap score. And then other times, I'd get a Silver or Gold for an overall operation score when I thought I kinda sucked at it. I like to actually get a good score when I feel like I've earned it. It always felt great in Devil May Cry when on the occasional fluke-y run where I put everything together, I'd own every enemy encounter and get an S-rank at the end of the mission...I'm not sure what gives with the way they are scoring things in TW101. I had my fair share of Consolation Prizes in Bayonetta as well, but it was at least semi-consistent there with how well/shitty I was playing.

It's a good game overall. I think the best thing I can say about it is that it's probably the most unique game that came out in 2013 that I played, and the experience on the whole is very fun and memorable. While the game tries some things that don't quite hit the mark, I give the game a lot of credit for taking a lot of chances. And there are a number of occasions where the game does something amazing where you're thinking to yourself, "Man, I've never seen anything like that done before!"

@TheBigG753

Thanks for elaborating a bit and giving us your impressions. I'm sure I'll have more to say on the game as a whole once I'm done.

Mr_Mustache said:

@roykoopa64OH! Does it REALLY matter which guy you have leading your charge? I had Wonder Beer as my main guy (instead of Wonder Red) and I changed him back quick because I didn't know what would happen. Whats the poop scoop?

Who is Wonder Beer??? Anyway, the main effect of switching the hero leading your small army (whether it's Wonder Red, Wonder Blue, etc.) is having a unique moveset for that character. In fact, the only way to switch to another hero (as far as I know) is by drawing the Unite symbol. Draw the Unite Hand (circle then 'A') to control Wonder Red, Unite Sword (straight line then 'A') for Wonder Blue, and so on. These are color-coded (this is important). When I say they each have their unique movesets, this also includes how they interact with the environment. For example, you need Red's Unite Hand to grip some knobs and turn them, or Blue's Unite Sword to insert into 'keyholes'to unlock them.

I'll give you a few other good tips on top of what The Big G mentioned above:

-use the circle move (I don't remember what it's called) to interact with your environment and discover secrets. This is where you draw your heroes using the right stick or drawing on the GamePad in the same way to activate Unite Hand, but you don't press any buttons. You want to draw the circle around the area you want to interact with. I think the first time you learn about using this is to revive a dead flower bed.
-use the straight line move (I don't remember what it's called) to send your heroes into certain doors and buildings. It's like activating Unite Sword, but you don't press any buttons. Sometimes you have to send in a certain number of heroes in order to activate something (for example, you may get a reward).
-Pay attention to P-Star!

If he emits a signal beam in an area, he's trying to give you a hint on what to do (sometimes he's trying to tell you where to send in your heroes). I had no idea what this little robot was trying to do when I saw him activate during a boss battle. I thought he was a bad guy trying to revive a fallen enemy body part!

I now have Wonder Yellow! That hammer is so satisfying.
Now I'm heading to operation 003-B.

I'm having trouble earning enough money to buy anything in the shop! So expensive.

I now have 41 of the Wonderful 'One-Double-Oh.' There must be a way I can view the stat screens on the Wonderful Ones (these are the members who are not the main characters, so guess they're the 'minor' team members? Like Wonder-Clean, Wonder-Mailman, Wonder-Chef, and so on...).

Like this one!


The character profiles must be in the pause menu, I shall look for them.

So much stuff to figure out in this game! Like, how to defeat enemies quickly and effectively. I've discovered the best strategy for some enemies but not all. Sure, many times, you can rely on brute force to get you through battle, but it can take forever unless you really know the enemy's weakness.

A good website that shows all the Wonderful Ones is this wiki.

@roykoopa64

Somebody mentioned Wonder Beer a while ago (can't remember where), but I found him in the first stage, didn't see out of the way at all. But yeah, kinda like your Wonder-Chef down there.

@Mr_Mustache

Oh, so it looks like there is a Wonder Beer:



But, he's a 'minor' team member, and as such, I don't think you can actually select him as the group leader (only the main team members like Wonder-Red Wonder-Blue, and so on, can lead). How were you able to use Wonder Beer as your main guy instead of Wonder Red?

@roykoopa64

There is a screen that has everyone all on one page (maybe 2 pages?), like a Pog collection, and I clicked on Wonder-Beer and he got a Red Ring around him, and when I went back to the field, he was definitely at the front of my troopes, where Wonder Red was seconds prior.

I noticed that he had what appeared to be an XP Bar (It looked kinda like the Magic does in Zelda II?), and I thought "oh, you can work them up," but I don't know for sure. I haven't been back since that first night, so there has been 0 trial and error.

Let me know when you find what I've described, maybe it'll make more sense to you.

@Mr_Mustache

Oh wow, you're right. I tried this last night. All you have to do is touch the little arrow icon at the center of the bottom of the GamePad screen. This pulls up all the Wonderful Ones you have located in the game, and here you can switch them in for your leader. Each Wonderful one is associated with a particular Unite Morph (Unite Hand, Unite Sword, etc.):

I posted this to the Miiverse community:



After reading some replies, I decided to look into this some more and found a very useful blog entry straight from Platinum Games themselves.

You're right, that meter is an XP bar shown next to each of the Wonderful Ones. According the blog:

Platinum Games said:

It’s important to keep the average level of the entire team high.

Raising the team’s average level to certain points will result in an increased maximum Vitality Gauge. We know you want that.

Then, there are those Custom Blocks we touched on back when we were talking about the Wonderful Mart. The number of Custom Blocks slots you have at your disposal also depends on the average level of your team. Custom Blocks are powerful accessories that can really turn the tide of battle, so more is definitely better in this case.

Leveling up your team will also level up the Shirogane Drive, giving you more Custom Block slots.

.. ... ..

When you attack an enemy with a Unite Morph, all the members associated with that Unite Morph will gain experience. However, the current leader will receive more experience than the other members, so keep that in mind when leveling your team.

There are limits to how far you can go with leveling up a character, so once one character has filled their meter, that might be the sign for you to switch things up.

I'm always learning something new about this game!

@roykoopa64

Wow, very neat. Soooo...like, you want to switch up your leaders now and then? I wish I could take more time to look at everything, but I know that the levels are timed and that factors into your Medal/Trophy/Whatever. Poop.

I noticed, also, that some of the guys I recruited had some sort of special type of maneuver associated with them (I remember some sort of pink slash thing? Kinda looked like a fist but it wasn't?), and I didn't get to unleash any of them. Any ideas there?

Mr_Mustache said:

Wow, very neat. Soooo...like, you want to switch up your leaders now and then? I wish I could take more time to look at everything, but I know that the levels are timed and that factors into your Medal/Trophy/Whatever. Poop.

I believe the time limit is only in effect while you are on an active 'mission.' The game is broken up into short missions, and the screen will prompt you that a mission has just started (usually followed by numerous enemies appearing). In between missions, you should have all the time you want to "look at everything."

Mr_Mustache said:

I noticed, also, that some of the guys I recruited had some sort of special type of maneuver associated with them (I remember some sort of pink slash thing? Kinda looked like a fist but it wasn't?), and I didn't get to unleash any of them. Any ideas there?

Not sure what you mean, but you may be talking about skills? If you look at that Platinum Games blog I linked to above, they mention that as you level up the Unite Morphs, you unlock new skills, like the Wonderful Stinger for the Unite hand:



which is done with
← → ＋ A

(Do the Left Stick input in reverse to go slinging in the opposite direction)

There are plenty of skills to unlock for each of the Unite Morphs.

But what you're saying is that some of the minor team members you recruit (like Wonder Beer) have their own specific moves that others of the same Unite Morph class don't have? I'm not sure that's the case.

@roykoopa64

Thats it! Wonderful Stinger!

Perhaps I recruited a new guy AT THE SAME TIME that that leveled up? I'm not sure.
I thought a guy brought that to my team. Hmm!

This was one of my most wanted Wii U games (I love Platinum) and I have finally gotten the opportunity to sit down and play it. I just beat 1-C, which I believe is the end of the first stage. This has to be one of the most unique games I can recall playing. It is truly a crazy, off the wall game, but in a good way.

I only wish I had some more time to play it. It seems like a game with a steep learning curve and one where the deeper you get into it, the more you can appreciate all it does. Between work and family, I barely had the time to dedicate to gaming before. Now with a new born, time just got that much more precious.

Just bought this game Sunday. On sale at GameStop for $30 - $25 gift card = $7 and change for this game!

Unfortunately they were out of stock, but the guy there was very helpful. He ordered it for me with free shipping to my house, and didn't even try to sell me too hard for a GameStop membership/points card thing. I should get it this weekend. I've played the demo a bit, and can't wait to really sink some time into this game.

Any advice you wish you knew when you first started playing?

@cooliocuneo

I'm still learning myself -- and I posted on MiiVerse last night with a sad face that "I bet this game will be more fun the 2nd time around"..so I re-did the Prologue and improved my score. Re-did the 1st stage that I struggled with and improved my score. Re-did the 2nd stage that I struggled mightily with and improved my score. In all instances, I found at least one NEW Wonderful 100 member, and felt FAR more comfortable on each run.

I don't know if there is really anything I can offer you that is helpful. I'd actually like to "sit in" with you and wait for some wisdom from Roy or something and sop that up, too.

Liiiiike, I've forgotten how to have two parties attack at once? I know I've had a sword AND a fist out there at the same time before; what the heck happened? I can't do it again!

@Mr_Mustache From my memory with the demo, instead of using A to end your gesture, use Y or something like that. One of the buttons calls out your other guys and another button calls out your leader.

I just remember that because in the demo I'd have like 3 swords going and I had absolutely no idea what was going on on screen. I dunno if I was a fan of the visual cacophony.

Draw your Unite Morph and press the X button to call out your second team.

@PogueSquadron
@Cryojin

I'll try that out later. Uhhhh, oh! Can you get back to seeing the pages for the individual guys themselves, like Wonder-Beer up there? I was looking for those last night, but all I could find was the head "pogs," and nothing else really.

I tried looking in my "Files" section, too, and I only have Wonder-Red and then ONE enemy. How do you get more of these things??

EDIT- And I forgot to mention earlier, the Cooking/Mixing area; I did the 30/30/30 thing to get that AWESOME Pre-Paid Credit Card to buy WHATEVER you want. WILL DO AGAIN.

Gallery, then Character Gallery, then Member Files. Getting more I think involves recruiting other members, and for some, getting Files.

I just beat Operation 5 and really enjoyed the Punch-Out style boss fight.

It is weird, I really enjoy the game but it is so exhausting to play even for a short while. At least for me it is.

I'm in the middle of operation 006 now. I love this game very much!

I still have a lot to learn and things to do. Some things I haven't been doing are:
--Recruiting enemies to battle with me (everyone should be tipped off this is possible by viewing the results screen after an operation is over and seeing you would have earned bonus points for enemies recruited).
--Finding all the possible missions within each operation. Once the operation is complete, I see the medals lined up in a row at the top and see lots of blank spaces where I must have obviously missed some.
--Completing any of the secret missions. They're very tough!
--Finding extra "Hero Heart"pieces (I only have 2 of 4 and never finished one).

Cryojin said:

Draw your Unite Morph and press the X button to call out your second team.

Yep, and then draw another and press X, and another and press X. You can have up to FOUR Team Unite Morphs at any one time using this technique!

This guide is pretty cool for learning more about combos. There are some advanced fighting techniques that I really haven't mastered yet.

I never get tired of Hearing Wonder-Red utter the words "Diplomacy has failed."

Mr_Mustache said:

And I forgot to mention earlier, the Cooking/Mixing area; I did the 30/30/30 thing to get that AWESOME Pre-Paid Credit Card to buy WHATEVER you want. WILL DO AGAIN.

Yeah, I always save up for that credit card as well. Very useful!

chrisbg99 said:

I just beat Operation 5 and really enjoyed the Punch-Out style boss fight.

That was awesome, was it not? I had to post about it on Miiverse. This game is filled with so many surprises and lot of different play styles popping up unexpectedly. It's fantastic.

@roykoopa64

How do you recruit them? I tried a few times (as you do with civilians), no dice!

We're MISSING Missions?! WHAT?!

I SAW a Heart in one of the missions, and I got pretty darn close to it (a building was on fire), but I couldn't reach it or its people, and I thought maybe I could do it at a later date, but not with my current setup.