gamedesigndeconstruct

[gamedesigndeconstruct]

The Careless Monk (a Yo-kai Watch post)

Pandle is a humanoid youkai who wears only a pot on his head and a loincloth to cover his lower region. He carries a toothpick with him which he uses to attack foes. The markings on his face make him appear fierce and in battle he rears his head back embellishing his toughness. However, it’s hard to take him seriously when he’s underdressed for battle. Although, I admire his spirit.

Pandle’s design is interesting in the way that it pulls elements from warrior monks and sumo wrestlers into its full design. His name, pot, toothpick, loincloth and feet all have an origin relating to those traditional professions.

What’s in a Name?

Pandle’s Japanese name is ぶようじん坊 (buyoujinbou).

ぶようじん (buyoujin) – carelessness 坊 (bou) – monk

His carelessness is attributed to his lack of armor or really clothes of any kind. When going into battle, you need to be prepared after all!

Nabe Pot – The Makeshift Hat

Pandle wears a nabe (鍋), a traditional Japanese cooking pot, on his head. His pot resembles a takuhatsugasa (托鉢笠) which is a bowl-shaped straw hat that Buddhist monks wear to cover their faces especially during takuhatsu or alms begging.

Because the act of giving and receiving are mutually shared and understood to both the giver and receiver, Japanese monks obscure their face to prevent them from seeing others and others of seeing them.

Toothpick or Weapon?

Since Pandle is partly based off of a monk, I researched warrior monks to see if Pandle’s toothpick resembled any of their weapons. As it turns out, the toothpick is based off of a weapon carried by Souhei (僧兵).

Souhei were warrior Buddhist monks of ancient Japan. One of the weapons they carried was the naginata (薙刀), which was a halberd-like weapon with a sharpened blade at the end.

Loincloth

Traditionally, sumo wrestlers wear a loincloth or mawashi(回し)as part of their attire. The loincloth that Pandle is wearing is a variation called keshou mawashi (化粧回し), which are loincloths that fan out in front like an apron. Keshou mawashi are worn by high ranking sumo wrestlers during the opening ceremony of a tournament. This suggests that our little Pandle friend might actually be a skilled fighter.

As a cute little touch, Pandle’s loincloth has the character for “bu” (ぶ) on front which represents the first character in his Japanese name.

Socks

Pandle’s socks are called tabi (足袋). Tabi are traditional Japanese ankle high socks with a separation between the big toe and the other toes. It was worn equally by both men and women.

A Fun Creature Design

Pandle is what happens when you cross a Japanese warrior monk with a sumo wrestler. He’s a feisty little fellow who’ll brashly charge into every battle wearing nothing but a loincloth and a pot on his head. And I love every bit of him!

[gamedesigndeconstruct]

Capturing Pokémon Vs. Befriending Youkai

Why Collecting Monsters in Pokémon is More Gratifying than Collecting Monsters in Yo-Kai Watch

Gotta Catch ‘em All!! Nearly 2 decades after its initial release, I still look forward to capturing new pokémon each time a new game is released in the franchise. With 721 critters to capture, you’d think I’d be fatigued in my seemingly endless quest to collect them all. And you’d be partially correct.

GameFreak has refined and perfected the core mechanics of the game over the years turning it into an easily replicate-able formula. A young child sets out on an adventure to be the best pokémon trainer they can be. They fight gym battles, take down the villains, overcome the elite four, and of course “catch ‘em all.” This has never changed during the series which unfortunately caused the game to become stale over the years. This series shamelessly exercises the notion “if it ain’t broken, then don’t fix it.” And for a successful series like Pokémon, there is no reason for the developers to change a formula that works so well especially when it comes to capturing the monsters.

Catching a Pokémon

Capturing a pokémon involves a combination of luck and skill. The “catch rate” determines how easy a pokémon is to catch. The higher the catch rate, the more likely you are to capture a pokémon. Each pokémon has its own base catch rate that can be influenced by several key factors:

Health - Lowering the health of a Pokémon increases your chance of capturing it.

Pokéball Type – Pokéballs are the capsules used to contain pokémon. There are various types of pokéballs tailored to capture different kinds of pokémon. For example, a dusk ball can increase your catch rate by 3.5x if used at night or in a cave.

Status Condition - Inflicting status conditions such as sleep, paralysis, and burn will also increase you catch rate.

O-powers - The current 6th generation of Pokémon has introduced O-powers which are temporary bonus effects that plays can give to each other. One of those powers increases catch rate for a few minutes.

Armed with the right pokéballs, battle-ready pokémon that can inflict status conditions, and bonuses from friends, you can catch any pokémon. Although, some lengendary Pokémon are naturally more difficult to catch even if all the right conditions are met. Typically, you can influence a successful capture with just a little bit of strategy, patience, and luck.

Befriending Youkai

On the other hand, Yo-kai Watch relies completely on luck-based mechanics when it comes to collecting monsters. After every battle, there is a small chance that a youkai will approach you and join your party. You can increase the chance that they’ll befriend you by feeding the enemy during battle, using special items, and bringing a youkai with you that has special befriending abilities. Often times, I am unsuccessful in befriending youkai. Feeding them their favorite food or using special items ends in failure most of the time. I have to search for and battle the same youkai 10, 15, 20+ times before finally catching it which at times can be a very frustrating experience. No skill or strategy is involved in their capture and it seems like using items or food has little to no effect on their capture rate.

It’s All about Luck

In Pokémon, as long as I have plenty of pokéballs and a prepared team, I can capture a pokémon the first time I encounter it with legendaries and rare pokémon being the exception. In Yo-kai Watch, I have to encounter the same monster numerous times before I am successful in getting it to join my party. 

If Yo-kai Watch afforded me more control over capturing monsters, then I would be able to enjoy the game more. Being the completionist I am, I just cannot back down from the challenge to get them all. However, this process is bogged down with luck based mechanics that I have no control over. After all, it shouldn’t take me an hour to capture one of the lowest ranking monsters in the game. That time should be spent leveling up my current party and preparing them to take on the rarest creatures I can find.  

[gamedesigndeconstruct]

The Envious Child (a Yo-kai Watch post)

From Yo-kai Watch’s Encyclopedia: Wantston wants everything others have, but he won't even try to acquire what he envies. So no worries.

I recently started playing Yo-kai Watch, a game about weird, mischievous creatures that cause problems for humans. One of the monsters that caught my eye was Wantston, an envious creature that resembles a young human boy. Compared to other youkai in the game, Wantston is one of the more “normal-looking” monsters. At first glance, there’s nothing extraordinary about his design except for his misshapen head and his excessive drooling disposition. However, by dissecting his Japanese name origins, clothing, and hairstyle we can start to understand the creativity behind this youkai’s design. First let’s deconstruct his Japanese name.

Wantston’s Japanese name is うらまやしろう (uramayashirou). His name is a combination of: 

羨ましい (urayamashii) - envious or jealous

しろう (shirou) - a boy’s name. It’s also part of an old number naming convention where “shirou” would be appended to end of the 4th born child’s name, such as Daishirou.

“-rou” by itself is also a suffix used for the ending of male names.

Being the youngest of four children, I felt a connection to this youkai. I received endless streams of hand-me-down toys and clothes when I was growing up. Because of this, I often became jealous of my older siblings. What about Wantston? Did he fair better with clothing?

Wantston wears a simple short-sleeved green noragi. “Noragi” (野良着) is a type of kimono that was worn by the working class, such as farmers.

Wantston completes his outfit by wearing a straw skirt. The skirt is part of a “mino” (蓑), which is a traditional rain coat worn by peasants and poor samurai.

Watston’s garb and lack of shoes suggests that perhaps in a former life he came from a poor family that couldn’t afford good clothes. And if his drool is any indication, his family could barely afford food. Either that or he’s just starved for the finer things in life.

The last thing that completes his overall appearance is his hairstyle. Wantston’s hair is worn in a “chonmage” (丁髷) or top-knot hairstyle which was traditionally worn by samurai during the Edo period, which spanned from the early 17th century – late 19th century. 

Whether he was the youngest son in a big family or hailed from a samurai lineage that had fallen on hard times, Wantston seems to have had an unfortunate lot in life. And now as a youkai, he can only gaze enviously at those things he has never had. At least his youkai form grants him the special ability “envious hand” which turns his tongue into a hand that steals enemy health.