Hello Kitty Online First Look: So Cute, It Causes Pink
There are three things going on with Hello Kitty Online that render me completely unable to look away.
The first is the whole massively multiplayer online game aspect. That’s the last video game genre next to first-person shooter I would have thought of for a Hello Kitty game. Developers Sanrio Digital and Typhoon Games along with US publisher Aeria Games think it’s a good fit, though, because the game is aimed at women aged 17-30 who crave a social experience instead of, say, a kids adventure game. To that end, they’ve gotten rid of some of the primary aspects of most MMOs and punched up or added other aspects to create an MMO where there’s less direct competition and more things to do besides collect rat butts. This makes for an MMO where you do level up and you can go questing for experience points – but there’s no pressure to level grind and you can get just as much XP mileage out of tending your garden or designing a house as you would “fighting” enemies on a quest.
That’s the second thing that’s got my attention: the persistent quest story. I know most MMOs have plots and sometimes those plots actually have an effect on the persistent world of the game. However, it’s not always executed well and the motivation to move through the story is kind dampened for some by the fact that they can’t be the sole hero of the land because everyone else in the land is a hero, too. The story that provides a persistent world backdrop for Hello Kitty Online involves a mystery where Sanrio characters fall into enchanted sleep. All players have the chance to solve the mystery and awaken some of the Sanrio characters – but even though it’s a mystery instead of a “go here, kill this” story, I wonder whether Hello Kitty Online’s story will somehow feel different from other plotted MMOs.
The third thing that paralyzes me whenever I look at Hello Kitty Online is the sheer cute factor. Every aspect of the world from the licensed characters to the Sanrio-ized version of London and Paris look exactly like something you’d see in one of their stores. Even beyond appearance, though, there’s a charm to the world of Hello Kitty Online that practically yanks the 6-year-old girl in me out to play, even though I’m actually not that fond of MMOs. Part of the charm comes from the “friendly” design of the game that lulls me into participating in basic MMO practices I’ve come to loath on principle like resource-whoring and level grinding. Technically, you do both in the game, but it’s just so cute and charming it doesn’t really feel like you’re slaughtering the same half-dozen wild boars or so for that next level. For example, to get between towns, you have to cross adventure areas, which are loaded with resource points and cute little animals. The animals will eventually agro on you if you get to close to them, but when it’s time to “fight,” you just whip out a magic wand and charm them to sleep – and then go on harvesting their natural habitat. Isn’t that adorable in a way that makes you almost sick?
There are two more things about Hello Kitty Online that aren’t quite as interesting (at least not to me), but still good to know. The first is that while Hello Kitty Online is technically a Free to Play MMO that functions on micro-transactions, Aeria Games says you can earn items and equipment equivalent (but slightly different in appearance) to what you could buy in real life just through questing. Apparently their goal is to change the stigma of “Free to Play” to “Play for Free” by letting everyone get as much mileage out of Hello Kitty Online as they want without getting out their wallets. Without spending a dime, they say, that’s over 100 hours of gameplay just grinding through the main quest.
The second interesting thing is that you can charm animals in the world to be your pets. Pets in Hello Kitty function like two parts Tamagotchi, one part Pokémon and one part stat buff. You have to feed them and pet them and clean up their poo to make sure they don’t run away; you can cross breed them with other pets to make totally unique pets with special talents; and depending on the level of the animal, your character can score a stat buff. The reason this isn’t that interesting to me is because I’ve got a track record of killing Tamagotchi.
Hello Kitty Online is due to go live this fall. I’m all set to get a better look at the beta later this month with a serious binge. I return frothing pink foam at the mouth, consider that my preview of what you can expect from the game.
Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
It seems like that game has been in beta for years now. I thought they finally went public a few months back but I guess it's just an open beta?
Relee
@DoctorCello: Thanks for the response....maybe the kids just had Miffy stuff mixed in with the Kitty stuff. NOW I wish I'd paid more attention!
BouncingOffClouds
I like Sanrio, and I considered entering the beta. But I'm a 34 year old man, and I realized that everyone else participating in the beta were pubescent girls.
It just feels too dirty and creepy for me to play this.
@(Hollow) svenhoek:
MixMaster81
@BouncingOffClouds: Miffy isn't a part of Sanrio, I believe.
DoctorCello
@Boom-Chicka-Ah: Makes you cloooooooooose your browser in fright...San-ri-o delight...
miquonranger03
Ow!ow! My retinas came out. Mmm...something smells like barbecue!
miquonranger03
@Soldier_CLE:
Thank you! That's just what I was about to say! Though I didn't really see Claris on my first look, that boy looks just like Elliot.
AcousticCurves
I'm still confused as fuck as to how Miffy figures into all of this. I ain't seeing him there but I do see a freaky earwamer rabbit instead.
I used to teach kids who had Hello Kitty lunchboxes and Miffy the rabbit popped up in the design of some pieces, (who one kid insisted was named "Unagi-chan", stubborn little 3 year old) but is he even part of "Kitty" lore?
Worrying that I care but can anyone enlighten me?
BouncingOffClouds
At the height of Hello Kitty fever that hit in Canada, I had an impossible time trying to find a Hello Kitty doll. Not the cheap knockoffs either, the ones that were licensed.
Cost me double the original amount to get the thing off of some girl that just purchased it, but it was all worth it when my niece called me the "bestest" uncle in the world :')
The boy and girl look like Elliot and Claire from the first (read: The Good) NiGHTs game that were released on the SEGA Saturn.
@(Hollow) svenhoek: zzzZZZRRRNN!
That was the sound of an obvious joke giving you a buzzcut.
mintycrys is HOT for Bayonetta
My wife loves hello kitty, and I love her. :)
@(Hollow) svenhoek: BURN
ReynaldoRiv
@tenken: Something in me won't be surprised if even this game ends up having a predominantly male userbase, still pretending to be female.
Ampere
Why's Kairi there? *gasps* Has the Hello Kitty world been confirmed?
ReynaldoRiv
Hello Kitty Online is a painful, painful Asian grind. Almost every quest is "collect 30 of X".
Kral2
@mintycrys is HOT for Bayonetta: They think your gay. Thats why you still haven't gotten laid by them, sorry.
I can imagine myself in a room, people playing fallout , left 4 dead, halo, deadspace and me hello kitty online grinning wide... *explodes*
Anyways,
"because the game is aimed at women aged 17-30"
I was guessing that there would be a sudden increase too since it is inevitably cute...
Creepy things with wands...
Tales_Of_A_Prinny
@tenken: I can already imagine myself planting a goatse garden and inviting the neighborhood over for tea.
I actually want to try this...and I hate myself for it
/facepalm
...
TheVegetarianBurgerKing
@(Hollow) svenhoek: Like the fairys from Fairly Odd Parents. AGHH!
Keroppi swag attracts wimminz.
Cute wimminz.
No lie.
mintycrys is HOT for Bayonetta
I'm pretty interested to see how it subverts things that are MMO staples that just...don't really jive with Hello Kitty. Buying a weapon of any sort to whack animal populations into extinction is kind of antithetical to the Hello Kitty aesthetic....even if your switchblade or nail bat is colored fuchsia.
I keep pondering getting a few friends together and going in to see if we can start a Hello Kitty PvP league. Not because I like PvP (I generally avoid it), but because I'm so sorely amused by what I think will happen when this game's "intended audience" clashes with "the kind of people who will play it just for lulz." It's gonna be like a meeting of alien worlds, on the internet. Now, allow me to gather materials for my curtain-making alchemy so I can get a head start on dominating the cutthroat world of house decorating.
Is this the game that Butter's was into in the South Park episode featuring world of warcraft? Hello Kitty Online Adventure??
Sounds like they might have some decent concepts in the game. Being able to level up while tending garden or running your house? I think that concept would be good to implement in other MMO's.
ankhenaten
*fist-pump*
@excel_excel: The blue and the red kids are simply their playthings. Their slaves. Note the eyes.. Or rather, the fact they HAVE such large eyes.
It's only a matter of time now...
TacoBomber
hello kitty is wearing mario's classic color scheme. neat!
it being a good game i think depends on your opinion...it being a breakthrough game in the market of entertainment is another thing. Micro-transactions have been making their way to the top of the MMO genre rather quickly it seems. I was rather surprised to hear that their audience was 17-30 year old women. To me, the idea of this game is brilliant. Im sure I'd hate to play it though X_x
Could a picture make you close your entire browser in fright? Yup, it just happened to me.
@excel_excel: If so, it has taken quite some time for my assassination.
I remember her... looking at me whilst I was attending my first educational course as a toddler.
There was no soul behind that face, nor in those eyes...
speak no more of it, least ye wish to preserve one's innocence...
Atomsk88
@excel_excel: Im more worried about the wonder twins up there. Look into those eyes and tell me that they are not black portals of nothing sucking you into the inky depths of Hell.
And they have wands. Wands to banish you to an eternity of pain and suffering, from which only a broken shell of suffering and hate will emerge.
"There are three things..."
Don't forget the fourth thing: you're a girl
You....you...liked it? Its a legitimately good game and not a cash in?
I'm scared. How is this possible? All the jokes about this being the WoW killer, could they be facts? I know, that's crazy, but think about it. What is more powerful a market then any in the world? Teenage girls. If this game manages to tap into this market, and it gains traction.....
The end of days.
END. OF. DAYS
Sanrio is why "Kawaii" Culture Became the norm in Japan.
Pink stuff and big eyed animal's.....all of it.
CraterMaker
my eyes hurt.
Ryan Meehan
She's gonna kill you. Look into those dark, black evil eyes and tell me that she's not gonna get you at night.