Chibi-Robo! (GC, 2005)

• Find/buy a few tools and suits used for exploration and traversal (ladders and bridges, the blaster at a few points to remove obstacles or hit switches, spoon - dig holes in soft dirt (for planting seeds) or dig up buried objects, radar - pinpoint the location of something hidden such as doors, frog suit - talk to any frog+the Bluebird and Jenny)

• Partially open-ended structure (some key/quest item gating in that you can't go into the foyer before learning to pose or into the kitchen before posing in front of sophie for example - can get the chibi-blaster and go outside before doing this; the living room is a hub for the first floor while the foyer is a hub for the second though some other rooms also connect to more than one room, have to get the giga-battery before you can get the living room ladder?, can't buy the kitchen or foyer ladders before the living room one, can only buy 1-2 different traversal tools at a time in the shop)

• Decent map system (detailed and zoomable - really a zoomed out overhead view camera rather than a map, shows most quest items), most quest items are highlighted when looking around in FP mode if there is line of sight; only shows the current room and not where you haven't been in each one+can't mark points of interest not yet marked on it), Radar tool - detects nearby items

• Pretty frequent save points placed at outlets in the house which also serve as battery recharge points (3 slots, shows collecting and leveling progress as well as time taken), Can get auto-revived with a bit of health if you buy the chibi-battery (about an hour into the game; Zelda 3) - one use item only though which is annoying considering its price+you can only buy one at a time, Unlimited lives however you lose some money from dying and you always restart back at your base - no checkpoints

• Gradually unlock faster travel methods (some warp points/teleporters (only from the bottom to the top of stairs though and you have to buy them with bolts that you grind for, trauma suit can be used to warp back to your base/house), Some shortcuts (not quite enough of them though)

• Minor puzzle element to getting around the house and some decent spatial awareness ones when it comes to getting to the frog rings and certain other items as well as a decent matching/timing puzzle in the UFO

• Draining battery mechanic (works like a hunger mechanic as well as your HP, can be upgraded and eventually becomes infinite with grinding or finishing the main quest) besides the day/night cycle

• Can see your avatar when it's behind objects

• Decent level of world interaction (feeding the fish and other animals, getting reactions from posing in front of NPCs, etc.)

• Pretty hand-holdy early on and from time to time later on as well (your flying helper called telly vision talks a lot)

• In-game manual however it can only be accessed in the living room at night

• Semi-silent protagonist (can only say yes/no and use poses with different suits to get a reaction out of NPCs), Can't make your helper ask other toys to carry you or help you in a fight

• Garbage+coins+dirt spots respawn in the same spots (good in that it's easy to slowly grind money and exp but also makes exploring for them less interesting)

Some notable cons:

• Unskippable cutscenes and dialogue scenes, Can't speed up or skip dialogue on a per sentence/paragraph basis - lots of dialogue in the game (there's also some repeated dialogue for repeated actions like recharging which gets annoying)

• Fall damage - drains the battery/your HP

• Annoying sfx when near death

• Would've been better if the outlets were also checkpoints

• Some waiting for events to happen

• The default battery doesn't last long enough and the first two upgrades are too minor

• So-so rewards for various challenges and side quests

• Various fake dialogue choices

• Sometimes need to talk to an NPC twice to trigger the next scripted event

• No reward for getting all the stickers, No special reward for getting all the frog rings (just a sticker; you do get some money and exp from giving them to Jenny though), No special reward for finding all the coin rooms - just a sticker and 1k exp

• Combat is a bit too easy and simplistic (no strafing, blocking, dodging or even jumping plus the beams automatically home in on the enemies) and there's only one boss which is also easy

Playthrough - Video Review - Mini Review

Influenced by: Probably Super Mario Sunshine, possibly Moon: Remix RPG Adventure (PS1), L.O.L.: Lack of Love (DC), Shenmue 1-2, Chulip, Harvest Moon series, Giftpia, Tomba 1-2, Animal Crossing?

Influenced: Possibly Mother 3, Tinykin, It Takes Two, Katamari Damacy