Zootopia: The Fox Wars

Zootopia: The Fox Wars is an RPG for the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. This game is basically what Zootopia Area would look like if it were an RPG rather than a fighting game. The premise is the same: an army of vengeful foxes wants the extinction of all other species. The difference is that depending on how you create your character and what choices you make throughout the game, you'll either be fighting against the Vulpai Zaibatsu or fighting with them.

Zootopia: The Fox Wars uses an auto save feature.

The Protagonist
So, who do you play as in this game? Judy Hopps? Nick Wilde? No. Instead, you get to create your own character and play as that character. First, you pick your character's gender, then you pick their species, fur color, and eye color. Each species has at least a few different fur colors to choose from. As for eye color, any species can have any eye color. Once you've decided on your character's gender, species, fur color, and eye color, all that'll be left is to give the character a name and then the game can begin. As for outfit, your character has a preset outfit that you can change any time during the game.

In terms of what weapon your character can wield, other characters have their weapons of choice, but your character can wield whatever weapon you choose as long as it's something your character can equip. Some weapons, and armor for that matter, can equipped by multiple species, but other equipment pieces are built for certain species. You can't expect a big animal like a wolf to wear bunny-sized armor and use bunny-sized weapons.

Gaining special moves also works differently for your character. Rather than having the character itself reach certain levels, your character instead gains special moves by gaining experience with the type of weapon it's using. Weapons are divided into types and there are many weapons of each type. The special moves your character gains by gaining experience with a weapon type will be usable as long as the character continues wielding weapons of that same type. Let's say your character wields a sword. The special moves your character gains by gaining sword experience will still be usable even if your character ditches the sword it's using for a different sword. But if your character ditches the sword for a weapon of a different type, then those special moves will be unusable until the character is equipped with a sword again. Gaining weapon experience works the same as gaining experience for the character itself; you fight enemies and win battles.

The Story
Zootopia: The Fox Wars is one of those games where there are multiple story routes and multiple endings. How you create your character affects what story routes you have access to. If your character is a fox, then you'll have the option to join the Vulpai Zaibatsu and take part in their schemes. If your character is anything but a fox, then the Vulpai Zaibatsu route is inaccessible. The Vulpai Zaibatsu is made entirely of foxes and they won't allow anyone other than foxes to join them. What exactly were you expecting?

The story is also divided into chapters. If you find a chapter too difficult, you can replay previous chapters to level up your party members, help your character gain more weapon experience, and rack up money to buy more items and better equipment.

Map Screen
When you're not in battle, you'll go to a map screen. This allows you to select a destination from any that are available. To select a destination, hit the A button. Most, if not all of the time, there will be at least one destination marked with a red pin. That shows a place where you need to go. Other destinations, you can go to to talk with other party members who might be there. This will initiate a cutscene where your character, depending on the choices you make, can bond with another party member. Bonding with other party members will grant them a special bonus of some sort. This is what's known as the Bond System, which is very much like the Social Link system from Persona 3 and 4 or the Fate System from Devil Survivor 2. We'll discuss the Bond System in a later segment.

Aside from destinations on the map, there are other things you can access from the map screen.

Shops: You can access the shops by pressing the Y button while on the map screen. There are three shops: an item shop, a weapon shop, and an armor shop. The item shop is where you buy consumable items. You can carry up to 99 of each individual item. The weapon and armor shops are where you buy weapons and armor for your party members.

Hospital: You can access this by pressing the X button while on the map screen. Here, you can have your party members restored to full health at the cost of some money. It's a good idea to come here after a battle ends.

Menu: You can access this by pressing the Start button while on the map screen. Here, you can save the game or load a saved game. Zootopia: The Fox Wars uses an auto save feature, but you can still save the game manually through this. You can also replay previous chapters here using the Replay Chapter command. If you do this, you'll only be able to go to the destinations you need to go to to get through the chapter. Also, if you come to a cutscene where you make a choice that affects what story route route you end up on, the choice you made the first time you were at that cutscene will stay the same. If you want to change your choices, you'll just have to start a new game.

Battlefield System
Zootopia: The Fox Wars uses a strategic battlefield system where you move the characters like pieces on a game board. Think games like Devil Survivor 2 and Fire Emblem: Awakening. When a battle begins, your first task is to select which party members you want to use and their starting positions. You can use as many party members as you have available. Once you've selected your party members and their starting positions, hit the Begin command to begin the battle. Now let's go over the commands you use during the fight.

Move: Use this command to move a character from one space to another. Once a character moves, they can't move again until their next turn. Each character has a limited range on where they can move to from their current position.

Attack: Use this command to have a character begin a fight with an enemy character. The attacking character can only target enemies adjacent to themselves. If an attacking character has any allies adjacent to them, you have the option to let those allies join the attacking character in attacking the enemy. Watch out, though, because the enemy can also have teammates join him in fending off your attacking allies. We'll go over how fights work in the next segment.

Item: Use this command to have a character use an item. A character can use an item either on themselves or any adjacent allies.

Open: You can only use this command when a character has a treasure box adjacent to them. The character will open the treasure box and take its contents. Treasure boxes will be discussed in more detail in a later segment.

End Turn: Use this command to end a character's turn. You can use this command even if the character hasn't done anything.

When you win a battle, any party members that weren't KO'd gain experience points and any allies that were KO'd are revived with 1 HP before the next battle.

Fight System
As stated above, to begin a fight with an enemy, select the Attack command, select an enemy adjacent to the attacking character, and the fight can begin. If your attacking character has any allies adjacent to them, then you can have those allies join your attacking character in attacking the enemy. Meanwhile, the defending enemy can have adjacent teammates join them in fending off your attacking allies. The reverse is also true. When an enemy attacks one of your allies, that enemy can have adjacent teammates join them in attacking your ally. Meanwhile, your defending ally can have adjacent allies join them in fending off the attacking enemies. Up to eight characters can take part in a single fight, four allies and four enemies.

When a fight begins, your first task is to select which attacks you want your party members to use. You can have them just attack or you can have them use a special attack. Using special attacks costs MP. Once you've selected what moves you want your party members to use, you then watch as your ally team and the enemy team attack each other using their chosen moves. What order the participants attack in depends on their individual speed stats. When a character lands a critical hit, they gain an Extra Turn. A character can only gain one Extra Turn per fight. This allows the character to attack once more. Once all characters have attacked at least once, characters with Extra Turns will attack again and once they do, the fight is over. Any damage the characters sustained during the fight is carried over into the next fight unless the characters are healed before then.

(This article is incomplete. More will be added later.)