Mind Zero - review

Thanks to the blue moon of gaming, we Persona fans have never took it personally, even if it's nothing personal to those other non Persona fans. Most of all, Persona was made in Japanese companies. Every once in a blue moon, you seen Persona fans like that every year and we didn't think it's something personal every day. If the niche has something to do with fans, then there's something you didn't be happy to oblige just now.

We have learned that since Persona games are big in Japan, it takes a lot of responsibility to become a Japanese fan. It's too niche to handle such opportunity and it's better this way. What this Persona rip-off Mind Zero is about, you ask? Well, let's read this review.

The Story:

Mind Zero is about a young highschooler named Kei Takanashi, who was sent into the shop where the "Undertaker" makes the rules. The rules stated that who ever enters her shop, he or she will stay forever until a person chooses a weapon to live or die. Kei's head predicts the weapon that a Grim Reaper uses, so Kei chooses a scythe, and he has chosen the weapon wisely to keep his life. After that happened, Kei has acquired the power of the MIND, which stands for Major Inner Node Displacement and it's also known as a Persona with a built-in barrier that protects their lives. In the rain of the middle of the city, he met a female highschooler, Shizuku Kamina. She is a friend of Kei's since. The situation took a turn for the worse when the cops have arrived in a spot to look for someone who wields the power of the MIND.

While Mind Zero is a Persona clone or rip-off, there's no point in playing the Persona games and knowing the world to play this. Because it has its own cast of characters and its own storyline, but exception of auto reading, which is activated with the triangle button and Persona 4 plot to some of the Mind Zero cast with the same voice as characters from Persona 3 and 4, as well as school life.

The Gameplay:

The world map above has towns, which are big pieces of revealing areas. When you select a town you want to go, you'll see a lot of places in a face down view.

In the town map, you control the blue circle. The green circle means optional while the pink circle is a part of the story. There are symbols in the map marked. The person symbol means character, the skyscrapers symbol means shop and station and the door symbol means a dungeon. There's also some optional character events that are not a part of the story, so don't miss them. Amamiya isn't the only town you'll go, there's two ways to travel from town to town. Press circle to exit out of town or go to a station.

Once you're in the dungeon, you will find some symbols, like the red "Event" symbol. It starts a battle on special occasions. Make sure you're prepared for it. After certain steps, you will enter battle, like other dungeon crawler RPGs. Especially Demon Gaze.

The combat system is mostly similar to other dungeon crawlers, but Mind Zero's combat system is better, but closely similar to Demon Gaze's combat system, except you have a party of three, not five. Each of the character has three gauges above their full name. The purple gauge is TP (Technical Point), which is consumed using Skills and filled up by fighting. The blue gauge is LP (Life Point), which is consumed by the enemies attacking you directly. Last, the orange gauge is MP (Mind Point), which is consumed by the enemies attacking your MIND. Once your MP reaches 0 by the enemy, you will enter a MIND Break state. During that state, you'll be stunned on your first turn, you won't act on your second turn. On your third turn, you will recover MP while acting. But when your MP reaches 0 without the enemy you won't enter a MIND Break state, and you can act on your first turn. Make sure you keep an eye on your MP gauge. The best thing is, you can recover TP and MP, by going to "Charge."

There's also a "Burst" command. You need 5 TP to activate Burst Mode. During "Burst," "Attack", "Items" and "Escape" are shown. With Burst, you act now when you select a command for a character. You can also keep on Bursting until the enemies are no more. There's no limit to it, so keep usng Burst.

Wield the Power of the MIND:

Activating the power of the MIND has its benefits. MINDs are like ghosts, but different. During battle, press the L button to activate or deactivate your MIND. Once your MIND is activated, "Attack," "Skills," and "Burst" are shown. But without your MIND, all commands are shown. To use Skills, you need your MIND in battle. All skills require TP, but some require LP, like on the Persona series. After every end of turn, your MIND will take a little of damage on MP. With your MIND activated, your attacks skyrocket, but not to some enemies who are resistant to MIND attacks, so keep pouring non-MIND attacks who are resistant to MIND attacks.

In the Skill menu, you can assign skills to your possession with the square button. Skills, like "Candle," for instance. It can heal your LP. Spaces are unlocked at certain levels and you can assign skills you are comfortable with. There are skills you can earn at the end of battle won. At the end of every battle won, you'll earn skill points, which are consumed in a shop in a town. Skill points are needed to enhance skills in a shop under "Enhance." You can upgrade skills, but you don't need skill points, you need a certain skill to combine with.

Organizing Your Party:

Mind Zero has a full cast of six characters. You can organize your party, by pressing the square button in the camp menu, which is opened with triangle. All you got to do is to press X to assign to or unassign from the battlefield. When the character's portrait is darkened, he or she is not in the battlefield. When the character's portrait is light, he or she is in the battlefield. You can carry up to three people on your team. Outside characters can earn EXP in the end of the battle, but in a slower amount and can cheer you on during battle.

Enjoying School Life:

Like the Persona series, Mind Zero has school moments. There are some scenes that has something to do with enjoying school life. There are some stuff, including the next day, after school times and tardiness of classes. Class will be in session for every possible plot and contingency to happen. Sadly, you can't move on to a day manually because there's no inn on each town and you can't sleep manually. On optional spots, class will be taken.

The Conclusion:

Thanks to the Persona fans, Mind Zero became one of my favorites in my list because school life occurs, the characters have a Persona and the combat system is amazing. If you think you don't know how you feel about it, then you should know how you feel about it because I can call it perfect, enough said. But there's also some slow parts into the game, but that don't mean you can't enjoy it. Not like I could hate this game, but nevertheless, it's called perfect.

Pros:

+All that Persona 4 Plot Heard

+School Life Easily Enjoyable
+Good Sound Effects Quality

Cons:

-Frustrating on some situations

Mind Zero is going to be given a solid and perfect 10 because I felt about how happy I am about this game. This will be the game that you Persona fans will enjoy.