So some people might have missed it but aside from the Miitopia Direct announcement (this Saturday at 20:00 Japan time) Nintendo also released a small preview of the game on the Japanese eShop for free. The preview is not a demo, but allows you to cast Mii characters in two different interactive trailers.
I've recorded both trailers and added English subtitles here:
Trailer 1 - Hero
Trailer 2 - Friendship
I used Nintendo characters but you can use any Mii you want. You can import Mii's from the 3DS' Mii Studio, from your Friend List, from a Tomodachi Collection save file or scan from a QR code or make one on the spot. You can then change their appearance and name after importing as well. In the preview version there were four classes available: Warrior, Mage, Priest and Cat as well as a bonus role in the Hero Trailer for the Demon King.
At the end of the trailer the game specifically says that these are just movies and there will be actual gameplay in the full version of the game. This is important because I see lots of people already disregarding the game because they think Miitopia will be some kind of movie maker game. From the contents of the trailers, I think we can already make some safe guesses about what kind of game Miitopia will be.
Obviously Miis are the most important aspect of the game, just like Tomodachi Collection. It's unlikely that they made battle animations and monster designs just for the trailers, so it's safe to assume that Miitopia will be an actual rpg game with some kind of battle system. The different "Action"s like Love Action and Anger Action from the second trailer could imply that the battle performance of your characters depend on the respective bonds and relationships between the Miis. This is probably where the Tomodachi Life aspect of the game comes into play. Now the question remains if the player has any input on what happens with the Miis (as opposed to Tomodachi Life) and if there will be some kind of story mode. Oh and let's not forget: if this game will be localized at all. I think Tomodachi Life sold pretty well at least in Europe, so I can't see why not.
Either way I'm really excited for the Miitopia Direct. Another detail some people might've missed: this will be a full priced retail game releasing on December 8th so it's not gonna be some kind of small eShop title. Makes it all the more stranger that they're literally only announcing it one month before the release date.
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