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Back in the days of the Nintendo 3DS eShop, some of you may remember the Denpa Men trilogy, which offered a series of cheap and approachable RPG adventures that felt like a great fit for the portable. However, there was a fourth title released only in Japan in 2014 which experimented with a free-to-play structure that proved reasonably popular. That game died with the ending of online services for the 3DS, so Genius Sonority has seen fit to retool it for the Switch era and release it worldwide as The New Denpa Men. It may not be one of the best free-to-play games available on Switch, but New Denpa Men still proves to be modestly enjoyable.
The narrative in New Denpa Men is hardly in line with the epic and occasionally drawn-out stuff that JRPGs are known for. Here, you command an army of Denpa Men—charmingly weird little dudes that look like a cross between a Mii and a Teletubby—to go on various quests geared towards helping various cutesy yellow creatures with long noses. The episodic structure works well with the bite-sized gameplay design, though it must be said that the localization here is NES-era levels of atrocious. Yet funnily enough, the broken English honestly adds to New Denpa Men’s quirky charm, as it feels strangely in line with the awkward vibe of the characters and world.
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Gameplay feels a bit like a cross between a Dragon Quest and a Mystery Dungeon game. After you select a mission (which costs you some stamina), you are transported to a small town with a dungeon nearby, sometimes requiring you to explore a brief overworld before making it to the dungeon. Once you decide to dive into the dungeon, you then explore a few floors of rooms and hallways jammed with treasure, secret paths, and lots of enemies. The dungeon then culminates in a boss fight, and usually gives you a nice treasure as a completion reward if you manage to kill the boss.
Combat segments are where that Dragon Quest influence is most felt, as you engage in basic turn-based battles against your foes. You can individually order each party member to do a specific action or pick from a short list of generalized actions to make everyone do the same thing. This latter option isn’t quite a replacement for an auto-battle feature, but it does do a good job of speeding along the fights against trash mobs. And though each Denpa Man doesn’t exactly have a raft of different skills and abilities, there’s just enough variety in each character’s loadout to keep them from feeling too samey.
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Frankly, New Denpa Men's gameplay and combat isn’t all that inspired—this is about as basic and bog standard as a classic-style JRPG can get. However, there is a certain appeal to the simple ‘baby’s first RPG’ design. Anyone who’s looking for a palatable and accessible gateway into the genre will be well served here, as it doesn’t take too long to learn the ins and outs of team building and… well, it’s free. On the other hand, those of you looking for a lot more gameplay depth will find New Denpa Men perpetually stuck in first gear.
Adding fresh party members involves you playing an AR-style minigame that requires swinging your Switch around to ‘see’ the Denpa Men swimming in the air around you, which you then capture by firing nets. Every Denpa Man has unique stats and abilities to help give them a niche in your team, though the most useful ones are, of course, gated behind paying some real-world money to take a shot at them. We enjoyed this approach to team building, as it doesn’t take long to build up a solid bench of characters to train up, and it’s always exciting when you manage to land one with an ability you were hoping for.
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Naturally, as a free-to-play game, New Denpa Men has plenty of ways it not so subtly asks you to pay to get ahead. The main currency here is Jewels (one of which will cost you about a dollar) and while you can get some Jewels for free as a byproduct of simply playing the game, they are never in abundance. Jewels can be used to purchase some rare goods in shops, they can be spent to give your party a full revive and heal if you get wiped in a fight, and they can also replenish the stamina that you deplete by going on missions.
Sure, you can theoretically get by without using Jewels, but New Denpa Men feels like its difficulty is balanced around the assumption that you do. If you choose to opt-out, there’ll be some situations where you’ll be forced to grind to overcome bosses that feel like they’re a bit above the current point on the difficulty curve, pushing you to towards needing a party revive. If you want the best shot at overcoming whatever mission poses the biggest challenge to your current party, you’ll probably have to pay a few bucks to make it happen.
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On one hand, these freemium elements are nothing new, and New Denpa Men isn’t particularly egregious in how hard it pushes you to open your wallet. You can still reasonably get many hours out of this experience without feeling like you’re getting shafted, and those hours do offer a largely enjoyable (if simple) RPG experience.
On the other hand, the freemium elements do feel like they cheapen what could otherwise be an excellent RPG for players who want something light and easy. A certain mental toll gradually accrues when you have to close prompts for deals on Jewels and are faced with frequent reminders of what you're missing by refusing to spend. You’re constantly reminded of how your gameplay experience is being tightly regulated by various financial and temporal limitations imposed by the developers.
Visually, New Denpa Men manages to satisfy, as it presents you with a basic, but consistent art style that reminded us fondly of games that came out in the days of the Wii and 3DS. Sure, there’s nothing here that’ll wow you as you explore tired biomes such as volcanoes and snowy forests, but everything runs at a rock-solid 60fps and the animations are all silky smooth as a result.
Conclusion
The New Denpa Men is pretty firmly in the middle of the pack when it comes to Switch's freemium games. Simple, approachable gameplay makes it a great light JRPG for anyone looking for a basic introduction to the genre but, unsurprisingly, it scarcely holds a candle to classically designed games such as Octopath Traveler 2 or Dragon Quest XI. And though the microtransactions and freemium elements don’t get too in the way of progressing the story, they are nonetheless a persistent annoyance that can drag the overall experience down. Still, it costs you nothing but time to give this one a shot and, despite the drawbacks, this is still a fun little RPG that you may find yourself coming back to more than you’d think. If you give it a try and if you’re not too impressed, there’s a staggering number of excellent RPGs on Switch to play instead.
Comments 33
You could tell the microtransactions were going to be an issue from how much they kept mining you for your details at the very beginning
See?
I knew that game got tainted by micro transactions and always online.
Well, next...!
Time gated events might be what makes me never give it a chance. The main freemium game deal breaker for me is that feeling you will never get to experience everything in the game simply because you weren't there from the start
Have just started the game, but so far I've been enjoying it and didn't mind the free-to-play elements even though I definitely agree that the game would've been better without those - not sure for how long and how often (max once per week, but games I've bought come first so maybe not even that) I'll keep on playing it, but for now it's fun enough as is and I'm playing it in Japanese so it's also an occasion for me to polish my knowledge!
Never going to play a game with micro transactions ever again. If the future of video games is filled with micro transactions, I'll become a full blown retro gamer.
This looked like a fun game during the direct, but it's a big nope for me, after reading the review.
An underwhelming (if broadly inoffensive) game, but a really nice (and entirely inoffensive) review.
Probably won’t play the game, but I’m glad I got to enjoy the read!
Glad I got to read this review. I'd give it a shot if I had nothing better to play. It may be free, but I can spend my time a little betterand wiser personally.
That a bad localization would be a plus… 😓
I've really enjoyed the first few hours - just a fun goofy game. And I feel like the localization has gotten better? Or I just got used to it. 😆 I do think the game would be better as not-f2p. That said, it has been fine so far without jewels.
They should have just charged a tenner for it and scrapped the in-game transaction/always online crap. While it shows promise, and I've played it briefly, I'm going to avoid it out of principle. Plus, I wouldn't be able to play this when I'm out and about anyway, so, boo.
I'm surprised how early this review was. There's not much content released on it rn. I spent $0 and just grinded since launch.
I've played the old Japanese mobile and the exclusive 3DS game. Its really good over time. It gets easier the more you play guys, just a lot of waiting.
Installed it some days ago but I've not played it yet. Maybe this afternoon, surely as soon as I see the minium wait for money I'll drop it anyway.
@JohnnyMind You are missing out on the best part, the absolutely atrocious and hillarious translation.
It is SO bad and amazing at the same time.
I gave it a few hours the other day, and it made me think of Miitopia. So now I'm just playing that again instead. It's not a game that's intentionally designed to be bad due to microtransactions.
I was kinda curious about this, but after reading about the microtransanctions it's definitely a pass for me.
I'd give it at least a 7-7.5, but good review. It's a fun grindfest if you don't want to dish out any cash. The game doesn't require transactions.
@Daniel36 I know, I was so tempted to play it in English just for that, but then ended up going for the more useful option!
It gotten a 6? It is too bad. But at least a Denpa Men is cute.
Free to play, microtransactions, bad localization, 6/10.. yeah I am happy I skipped this.
I will never get tired of how proud people sound when they declare "I refuse to be entertained your free entertainment because you have the audacity to try and make money from it"
Don't get me wrong, not wanting to play this game or free to play games in general is a perfectly valid opinion. I just don't get what they are so proud of. How are they "winning"?
A free game like this is like a cat video on YouTube.
When your choice is between the cat video and gazing into the void, becoming increasingly aware that you ... no, not just you ... your whole species, all life on your planet, can not possibly have meaning or purpose when viewed in the context of the infinite universe we are part of, and how nationality, culture, and religion are not "profound" or important, they are simply inventions we use to turn a blind eye to our isolation and the meaningless of our existence ... you watch the cat video!
You watch it for 10 minutes and enjoy it. Because it's there, it's free, and it's better then the alternative.
We we don't treat free games like that is completely beyond me.
@Anti-Matter Just say the Switch finally got a good cartoon boxing game, featuring chibi muscle men and a cute artstyle. Basically, it ticks all the boxes... except for one. It's free to play... Would you play it? Or ignore it and continue to wait for a cartoon boxing game with a physical edition?
@OorWullie
I have checked from eshop page and there was no chibi boxing games you have mentioned. 😜
I still choose a paid game in physical with everything inside over than free 2 play games with micro transactions behind it.
@RygelXVIII
I'm just going to assume this is satire. Because as satire, this is actually gold. Not just the post itself, but the meta-commentary of taking the time to read internet forums about games you are not interested in and reply to some dude on the internet's post with a thesis about how time is too precious a commodity to waste ... honestly, amazing work. Voltaire level genius.
@HeadPirate that's not it at all, and you know it. Free games like this aren't like cat videos, they are like a gambling slot machine where the first pull every 10 minutes is free. They are predatory endeavours, purposefully designed to hide how much you're spending and to be frustrating and un-fun to play unless you pay up over and over again. And the main reason why gamers like us get so mad about them is that they exist in "our" sphere and bring the art form down by association. Imagine playing Zelda and getting stuck in a dungeon and then Navi pops up to say "give Miyamoto $5 and you we'll upgrade your Master Sword for the next 20 minutes!" It would sure make you feel different about Zelda, Nintendo, and gaming in general. And that's exactly what these F2P games do, just not actually Zelda. This practice is taking our art form and twisting it into the worst kind of infinite cash squeeze.
And finally, nobody in the history of the world has had to make a choice of "F2P game or no game at all". Everyone has real games they own, either old favourites or in their backlog; not to mention that there is a functionally infinite amount of games out there which are actually free: app stores, itch.io, giveaways; hell there are even good F2Ps which only charge for cosmetics and don't gate content or ruin the play experience.
@N64-ROX
YouTube in a microtransaction based site. It makes $21 billion a year $0.04 cents at a time.
Cat videos are often monetized by their makers and these people use cats and cute animals as a predatory way of manipulating the human attraction to "cute" things that resemble children. The goal is to draw your attention to the video so that they make as much money as possible. Even if the poster isn't doing that, Google is doing it when it sends it to your feed.
There are both paid and free services you can use to make your thumbnail as manipulative as possible to attract views though "click bait". This practice is so widespread and profitable that Google now allows you to track analytics from multiple thumbnails so you can pick the one that preforms the best. A test program allows users to tweak the thumbnail based on user-demographics, so everyone is always seeing something they are more likely to engage with by eliciting a strong emotional response. The ultimate goal is to use science to make it almost impossible for you not to click, and they are getting close!
Each cat video begins with an ad that pops up and says "If you give us $11.99 you can watch the video RIGHT AWAY". If the video is longer then 5 minutes, it is extremely likely another ad will interrupt you and remind you that all you have to do is pay $11.99 to enjoy the video without ads! At default monetization setting, while several factors can effect this number a new ad and a new reminder that $11.99 is all it takes to stop this torture should pop up every 4 to 6 minutes. YouTube actually lets users INCREASE THIS to as high as an ad every 3 minutes. At peak times, Google will sometimes lower the quality of your video to 360p and blame it on ... you guessed it, you not giving them $11.99!
No one makes the choice between Cat videos and no video entertainment. We live in a world where Schindler's list, 5 Seasons of Babylon 5, and Onegai My Melody exist. Yet people still watch a lot of cat videos.
And, in addition to YouTube using the exact FTP, micro transition model you're hating on ... this game DOSEN'T use that. This game, like almost every Japanese FTP game, uses the coin-op model. Playing the game costs stamina, the primary thing you pay real money for is more stamina. You can also use money to overcome bosses before you should with a revive, but none of that progressed is gated. You can play in "cat video" sized doses every single day, and you'll hardly even know your playing a FTP game. You wont run out of stamina, and you'll never be reminded you can pay for more.
Now again, don't play this game. Don't play FTP games. That's your propagative. I don't care to change it. But you should realize your condemnation of FTP while you accept things like YouTube is extremely arbitrary. Cat Videos and FTP use the same monetization, and no FTP game will ever come close to the level of deliberate manipulation YouTube uses. Your perception of what FTP is like comes from Zynga and the worst examples of bad actors. Most games are not like that. Some are actually really good. Some are DOTA. And some suck. Just like paid games!
@Ace-Lucario
Babylon 5 is some of the best TV ever made. Like anything from that time, you're going to have to gloss over some pretty awfulness in the first season, and the second has some arguably worse "cringe" movements. But once Straczynski gets his way, gets to kill off the character the network made him put in ... it just becomes something incredible. Momentum that never lets up. Real mysteries that actually get paid off. An openly gay couple in a TV show from 1993 that you might not even notice your first time watching it. It's just never been replicated.
But really, you should check out Onegai My Melody first! Unironically one of the best shows I've ever seen.
Wouldn't mind giving this a try after enjoying the 3DS game. But the F2P put me off. May do so moreso down the line.
@HeadPirate I definitely won't disagree that YouTube ads are heinous, and getting worse all the time. Once I discovered ad-blocking, I never looked back.
I just want a port of the first three games. You could transfer the main character from 1 to 2 to 3, so it was fun to get to play with your cute li’l Denpa Man friend through all his adventures, and see how relationships and villains and villages develop over time. You could also get bonuses in-game for playing the previous games and transferring your hero!
Plus, the translation in the first three was just fine! 😭
@N64-ROX
See and that kinda loops back to my original point. I had one of those, right?
Like we have no problem saying YouTube is a fantastic free service, extremely entertaining, and a net positive, even though it would be a lot better without ads or a company behind it that in the last 10 years has gone from best of the bad options to flat out Bond villain.
There are very few post about how YouTube disgusts people on a moral and spiritual level, how it's the bane of the video media, and how everyone associated with it should be publicly draw and quartered. At the same time, there are not a lot of post about how F2P games can be fun, entertaining, and often well meaning, but would be a lot better without the ads and the bad actors.
I just don't understand why we treat these two very similar things so differently.
@RygelXVIII
There is nothing to “win” in an argument, and that’s doubly true on the internet. It’s an exchange of ideas. I post here because I respect a lot of the frequent posters. They are intelligent people who often provide me with fascinating insight, and I consider myself pretty lucky to have a small group of people who regularly read and respond to me.
If you look at my original post … it’s a question. I’m asking for insight. I’m not trying to convince anyone of anything, I don’t understand something and I’m hoping someone else might have a better grasp of what’s going on then I do.
To break down my original post into formal logic, it states two premise. One is that F2P games and other free entertainment are very similar, and the second is that people treat them very differently. I present no arguments. Then I ask a question; why is this? Why do people treat them differently. That's the thing I want to talk about.
The problem is that some people who DO think arguments can be won and lost often approach them by attacking the premises rather than the argument itself. That’s not how arguments work and engaging with people who want to argue a premises isn’t productive. People can only have productive discourse when they accept a shared premise. That’s not to say there is anything wrong with disagreeing with my premise, only that… a meaningless back and forth isn’t why I posted.
Let’s say someone posts “I’m a Christian, and I don’t know if letting my daughter play COD is being a bad Christian. Can anyone help me?”. I personally think religion is nonsense, and a lot of people don’t like COD. But that’s not what the post is about. Replying with “Christianity is nonsense” or “COD is a bad game” isn’t engaging with the argument, it’s questioning the premise and wasting both of your time … even though there is nothing “wrong” with either of those opinions. The only way to make a productive comment to that person is to accept they want a Christian perspective and their daughter has already decided they want to play COD. There is no point replying if you can't do that.
So in fairness, you have never interacted with me ... you've simply read my posts and attacked their premise. If you're going to refrain from doing that in the future ... ummm ... great! Thank you!
But if you ever do have a constructive argument to make under a shared premise, I really hope you'll change your mind and share it with me. That's why I'm here. To get opinions from people who think differently then me. Well, that and sometimes I also correct factual errors. But mostly that first one!
@HeadPirate You talk too much. The point is obvious: people are protesting a modern industry practice they believe is destroying the hobby they love by doing the only thing they can: not playing it and hoping the company sees their protest and changes course. It's the same exact thing you're doing by protesting their comments, and equally futile, although I'm not sure what good you actually see coming from your efforts whereas at least their time spent is admirable. I'm sorry you see everything as pointless but the odds of anything existing at all are pretty tiny, take the W and go try to enjoy some fresh air.
The best part of the New Denpa Men hasn't really been covered by this review: the secret paths aren't just small secrets leading to extra treasure chests, they are actual alternate endings/extra storylines to dungeons with higher level opponents and great loot. This adds a lot of replayability value. Besides, the "not a lot of depth" is only true for the first couple missions of the game (the ones shown on the screenshots). There are puzzles, mechanically "rich" dungeons and even open world missions later on. Not to mention building up your Denpa team strategically and experimenting with the Fusion mechanic turns out to be quite fun in the long run.
Now, if I still had to point a downside, that'd be related to how the upcoming PvP Coliseum is likely to be affected by whales. But that's something we're yet to see. As it is, I really recommend checking it out and exploring it as much as you can. Not everything has to be similar to Octopath Traveler 2 or Dragon Quest XI, especially not a quirky creature collector JRPG.
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