Silver Lightning Posted February 2, 2013 Share Posted February 2, 2013 I found out that I have a little extra money to spend on a game, and now that I got a PS3 for Christmas, I'm looking to expand my pitifully small library (I only currently have Tales of Graces and Journey Collector's Edition). Coming from someone who has grown up with and adores all of what Studio Ghibli, specifically Hayao Miyazaki, has created over the years, I was interested in getting Ni no Kuni. But since I haven't played any of Level 5's games, is this the kind of game I'd end up loving as much as, say, a Tales game? I'm not very hard to please overall, but I'd like to know as much as possible about this game considering its over 60 bucks and I had a couple other less expensive games in mind to buy too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tangerine Posted February 2, 2013 Share Posted February 2, 2013 (edited) Ni No Kuni is better than any Tales game I've ever played, that's for sure. The glowing reviews speak for themselves :P. If you've played Dragon Quest 8, the experience is a lot like that. There is a gigantic and detailed world map to explore that is full of secrets, your party members have their own little story to tell, and the story itself doesn't try to be so complex it ends up convoluted - it's charming instead. Graphics wise It's probably the most beautiful game you'll ever play, it took the top spot from Okami for me :P. It's full of sidequests, and if you're a fan of Pokemon you'll spend hours catching and raising the 300+ familiars in the game. They all have their own skillsets and stat growths, and you can control them in real-time battle and switch whenever you want not unlike a Tales game. Joe Hisaishi did the soundtrack, I don't need to say it's amazing. It is also moderately challenging - the only review for the game below an 8 only rated it lower because they said it was too hard, lol. Also the voice acting is incredible, I just wish it was used more! My biggest gripe with the game is that the party member AI is really dumb sometimes. It's okay for most characters, but the healer is really stupid. It must be a tradition for JRPGs to have bad healer AI.. http://rpgland.com/games/reviews/ni-no-kuni-wrath-of-the-white-witch/ (One of four games to ever receive their top rating!) http://ca.ign.com/articles/2013/01/15/ni-no-kuni-wrath-of-the-white-witch-review (They've only rated FF7 higher in the genre I believe, by .1) These two reviews will tell you everything you need to know about the game :P. If it still doesn't sound good to you then you probably won't like it! Edited February 2, 2013 by Tangerine Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silver Lightning Posted February 3, 2013 Author Share Posted February 3, 2013 Ah thank you for all the information! I definitely love both Pokemon and Tales, so this sounds exciting for me! I'll certainly take you're and the review's word for it and get this game; as I said before, it doesn't take too much to please me and this looks like it was designed to please any fan of JRPGs as well as Ghibli fans (of which I am both) so I'm sure I will love it. Thank you again for answering! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keiya Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 ... this thread needs more love, and maybe pieces of heart. You will either extremely love or moderately hate Ni no Kuni, depending on your previous JRPG history. If you grew up, like me, playing JRPG's of the SNES/PSX/PS2 era, you will most likely love Ni no Kuni, because everything about it harks back to a time when you flew around the world map on an airship in order to discover that hidden dungeon that housed either the Infinity+1 Sword, or the items that allowed you to make the Infinity+1 Sword. If you don't play those games, or haven't played those games, or have played few of those games, you might want to try the demo first and play through the two scenarios to get an idea of what you're gonna be in for. It has all the charms you want out of an old-fashioned JRPG (world map and what you can do in it, fun battle system, rewarding sidequests and crafting mechanics, memorable characters, towns that are actually towns), but it also has some of the biggest flaws of an old-fashioned JRPG (way too much grinding for a fair number of folk, silly characters, save points, lack of a real 'flee' option from battles, much of the dialogue is in scrolling pages rather than spoken text, understandably because of budgets). If you look at Gamerankings or Metacritic, pretty much what separated people who gave NNK glowing reviews, and the ones who gave it not-so-glowing reviews were the elements that made it a very traditional, very orthodox JRPG. Insofar as Level-5 is concerned, I really think they need more respect from the gaming community as a whole, as they have been cranking out sleeper hits (Dark Cloud, Jeanne D'Arc, Dragon Quest VIII, Rogue Galaxy, The Layton Series, White Knight Chronicles) since the Playstation 2 was first released. Ni no Kuni is yet another game in that list. Even if you're not like me, and you don't see JRPG's in the heavy nostalgia filter that I view it with, I still implore you to give Ni no Kuni a try. Yes, it has Joe Hisaishi music. Yes, it has Studio Ghibli visuals, both 2D and 3D. But what makes the game great for me is that Level-5 really put a lot of work in the gameplay, and the result is nothing short of impressive. In fact, if Level-5 were interested, they should offer their battle system/style to Game Freak and Nintendo, and see how Pokemon would fare with a more dynamic, realtime battle style. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tangerine Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 I don't think Ni No Kuni requires grinding. So far the only grinding I've had to do is for sidequests that want you to get certain drops or monsters that don't have a 100% chance of being acquired. If you're just in it for the main story then it seems like pretty smooth sailing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keiya Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 (edited) I don't think Ni No Kuni requires grinding. So far the only grinding I've had to do is for sidequests that want you to get certain drops or monsters that don't have a 100% chance of being acquired. If you're just in it for the main story then it seems like pretty smooth sailing. Well, if you're like me, and you want to use/try using different familiars and familiar combinations (and especially talking to the Sage of Ages and having the items to evolve/metamorphose your familiars), there's gonna be quite a bit of grinding, especially if the player isn't so accustomed to JRPG's. But yeah, this game... it just... really works for me. It's like, Level-5 took everything I really liked about the PSX/PS2 era of JRPG's, and decided to write a love letter to that bygone era. Edited February 7, 2013 by Keiya Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silver Lightning Posted February 7, 2013 Author Share Posted February 7, 2013 Well, while I'm not too far into the game (I'm only into Ding Dong Dell Well so far due to my busy school schedule), I really like this game so far. I know that I probably haven't reached that point where you as the gamer ultimately decides if the whole experience is enjoyable and works for you, but believe me, I've played my fair share of JRPGs growing up, and as long as I don't have to spend days or weeks grinding just to get through a section of the game, I think I'll be fine. I really love the art, music and voice work so far for certain, but then everyone usually loves that. My one gripe so far is the shared health bar with familiars......I feel from experience like that is gonna be the biggest pain to get through and get used to...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tangerine Posted February 8, 2013 Share Posted February 8, 2013 Like Keiya said, you only have to grind if you want to raise a lot of familiars. It's no different from your typical Pokemon game in that way, except way faster since every familiar in your party gets exp even if they don't participate. There are over 300 familiars, and you can only level the nine in your party up at once. You essentially only grind if you want to :P. NNK does have a "metal slime" and "liquid metal slime" type enemy for easy grinding a ways into the game though. Sidequests can get grindy if you're unlucky still. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keiya Posted February 8, 2013 Share Posted February 8, 2013 Even if there's a bit of a grind, though, I don't usually feel it, since the battle system's pretty fun. I think that the AI's pretty wonky, though, but the battles do feel more controlled/less frantic than a Tales game, where I almost always feel like I have to focus exclusively on the character I'm using and just pray the other 3 characters are doing fine. By the way, if we look at the Ni no Kuni sales, I'd say the game's performing reasonably well overseas. Initial sales from North America have reached 150k sales, and that's excluding digital downloads. In addition, the UK actually ran out of discs, and Namco Bandai is printing a second wave of NNK discs to meet demand. Let's hope this leads to a sequel from Level-5. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrostyFireMage Posted March 2, 2013 Share Posted March 2, 2013 I just got Ni no Kuni (just defeated Hickory Dock last night) and I'm loving it so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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