History: Ni No Kuni was originally announced in 2008 in the Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu. This collaboration between the game developer Level-5 and film production company Studio Ghibli began the animation aspects of the game around this time, as the animated sequences are essentially a new Ghibli movie.
There are two versions of this game. One for Nintendo DS and one for Playstation 3. The DS version was released only in Japan on December 9, 2010 to very high praise. The Playstation 3 version was released almost a year later on November 17, 2011 in Japan, and the rest of the world in early 2013. While the Playstation 3 version plays much different than the DS version due to difference in hardware, it was also very highly praised.
The game did so well that two mobile games were released exclusively in Japan. One being an episodic prequel role playing game, while the other was social card game.
A special edition of the Playstation 3 version, known as The Wizard's Edition, was made and included the game, a little bit of (not necessary but nice to have) DLC, a plush figure of your sidekick Drippy, and a 300+ page hardcover Wizard's Companion book (sort of a strategy guide.) However due to a glitch on the Namco Bandai website they oversold and had to cancel many orders. The orders that were cancelled were compensated with the game, a $20 Club-Namco voucher (for use on games and other products on their website) and a hardcover strategy guide (not sure if it's the same as the original book included but I doubt it.)
Personal History: First time playing through this game. Am very familiar with Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli movies, though. Have seen most of them so I'm definitely familiar with the style
Availability: The DS game was only released in Japan, but the PS3 version was released worldwide. So if you want to play the 'original' game you'll have to know Japanese or play a translated emulation. The PS3 version is very common, going for less than $20 online for a disc copy.
Version I Played: American release, digital download from PSN store.
Review: I wonder how many people picked up this game for the same reason I did. It's the Miyazaki/Ghibli video game. Everything about it from a storytelling and stylistic viewpoint it is real-deal Ghibli. Sounds great! Most of their movies are instant classics, worthy of repeat viewings. So a game with a similar story and visual style sounds like a win! In a way it is. The animated sequences look JUST like their movies. And the in-game graphics even hold up with the style.
For comparison sake...
Here's a screenshot from an animated sequence...
...and an unrelated shot from in-game.
That's the first thing I give this game credit for. It grows from a Ghibli concept and keeps it up. It's far from using a familiar visual style to sell an RPG. Not one chance. That's because Ghibli was involved from the beginning.
The plot is pretty standard for them. A child is forced to deal with mature issues wherein he or she will grow, usually ending in a positive or morally uplifting light. May or may not include a fantasy world and monsters.
In this case our hero is Oliver. When he and his friend Philip try out a new vehicle Philip made in his garage, they crash and Oliver almost drowns. He is saved by his mother (who has heart issues.) Sadly the rescue proves to be too much for her and she dies immediately after saving Oliver. The tears Oliver cries after her death brings to life a plush doll Oliver has had almost his whole life. Drippy, a fairy from an alternate world, comes to life from that doll. He takes Oliver to the other world, explaining everyone has a "soul mate," which in this case means an alternate version of the same person between these two worlds. They believe that finding his mother's soul mate could help them find a way to bring her back to life in Oliver's world.
And so our adventure begins.
This is a very welcome change as most RPG stories, or the method of telling them, simply do not appeal to me most of the time. Weird considering RPGs are in my top 3 gaming genres. Still, most RPGs are either Tolkien rip offs or full of anime cliches. While Ni No Kuni has anime roots it doesn't share some of those cliches. Ghibli has always been an exception to the rule because they approach their anime movies differently than others. Many times being called the Disney of Japan. So the story, while typical Ghibli, was not a typical video game story. And since this was made from the ground up to be a game and not a movie it had gaming in mind.
More on the story later, cause it has plenty of ups and downs.
It's a little surprising I decided to invest my time in this game. A while back I tried the demo and I didn't like it. Still I felt it had potential. And at $5 on sale I figured it was a good investment.
You see, the demo dropped you in the middle of the game, which is a bad thing. The battle system is a mess you have to grow into. Being thrown in, in the middle is tough. In the actual game it slowly teaches you over many battles as the game progresses. It gives it to you piece by piece. The demo slapped you in the face with the full thing.
The battle system tries to mix action and turn based elements into one. Meaning while you run around freely and everyone attacks independent of one another, you select your actions via menu selection instead of button mashing ala Kingdom Hearts. It's a simple approach that unfortunately causes a lot of problems where I'm fumbling my controller to do what I want.
You freely move your character around with the joystick, and you select your action with the directional pad. Tell me you see the problem from the start! Since the action is action based you have to physically run from the enemy to avoid being hit. So in order for you to dodge some attacks while selecting your next action you either need to stop dead in your tracks, select the action, potentially taking a hit, or awkwardly try to control both the joystick and d-pad at the same time.
Thankfully the game is willing to pause the action when you go into the item or familiars menu.
Believe it or not I enjoyed the convoluted battle system in Final Fantasy XIII more, and that was a big mess, too!
Yes, familiars. Ni No Kuni takes a Pokemon route by expanding your horizons of growth through hundreds of creatures. Much like in Pokemon you are given one from the beginning and collect more along the way through battles. This offers a lot of variety since they all are built with different core abilities (drawn from the same standard RPG tree, mind you) and can be customized, even evolve. It's a neat idea and you'll actually use the familiars 99% of the time since playing as the actual characters is as pathetic as trying to slapfight a bear. It doesn't get you far.
I really wish I was able to get into this aspect of the game more. Sadly the game does little to make you want to explore it. They're introduced as a core element but then drop off the map quickly from there. You can hold up to three at a time per character and I had familiars I never changed out. The one I used the most was the one I given at the start of the game. I had no reason to switch him out because he was working so well for me.
This cute little bugger. Just look at him!
Such a missed opportunity... or is it? I guess I don't know since I didn't explore it deeper. But the game didn't entice me to. It looked at me and said, "These are there. They're pretty cool, I guess. Don't feel pressured, though. Maybe it's not that important." Unlike one of my favorite RPGs of all time, Persona 4, a game structured so you constantly switch, upgrade, and collect as many personas (their 'monsters') as possible. Sure I bet you could get through Persona 4 with mostly the same group of personas. It would be a longer, more tedious experience, though. But Ni No Kuni didn't have that. Could I have progressed through the game quicker if I did explore it? Maybe. Not to extreme levels, though.
Outside the unique approaches I quickly started to realize how it was a facade hiding something simple and generic. I'm not upset I didn't find it cathartic. I mean under the skin of this game's visual style and exciting story is a generic video game with little to offer.
The game goes so far to have all the cliche elemental levels. I kid you not. There's the forest level, desert level, ice, lava, and technically water. While these environments are all beautiful, it feels paper thin, with the NPCs only offering a little bit of depth. While the story starts strong it quickly becomes a sight-seeing trip, finding an excuse to hit every corner of the world map. At least it makes it easy to keep track of your progress. Rarely do you revisit old areas, and if you do it's brief.
Sadly I found a big, similar problem like I did with Xenoblade Chronicles (oh, look, a review of that game) and that's with the story. Like I just mentioned with this game, it starts out strong. Then, I feel it doesn't get interesting again until damn near the end. Like Ghibli wrote a script to a fun, exciting adventure where the first and third act were paced just right, but act two had to be stretched for the sake of length.
Doesn't help you can't power through certain sections. Many times I found myself overpowered for one boss, only to be destroyed in seconds by a mini-boss in the next area. Leaving me with the need to get in endless battles slowly leveling up. Thankfully this wasn't as bad as Xenoblade where I leveled up at an average of one level per hour. This was easily done in half the time in Ni No Kuni. So if you like grinding then you've come to the right place.
On the other hand I did have some fun leveling up and that's because of the side missions. There is a plethora of side missions and bounty hunts here. And unlike other RPGs where the results aren't that exciting, this game offers something great for every mission. Tons of cash, items to use in battle, or in the case of bounty hunts, TONS of experience points. But the best part is the stamp system.
Like getting a free coffee at the gas station
Every side mission offers a different number of stamps. When you fill up the card (or cards depending on the reward) you can redeem it for bonuses. Bonuses include getting more experience per battle, higher chance of enemies dropping items, running faster in the world map, and so forth. These are a huge benefit to the game and a great incentive to do side missions. If anything this is what kept me playing. It was the most satisfying part of the game.
That says a lot considering I dumped a lot of time into the game. Playing it the way I did with a pretty tight focus on side missions it took me around forty hours to complete, half the time of Xenoblade. It certainly wasn't the story that kept me in, seeing as how it didn't entice me throughout. I did enjoy plenty of elements of the ending, though. Some nice twists and turns that are definitely predictable, but good to know they went the direction they did.
I really wanted to like this game more. Some fine tuning of the battle system and story work would be great. At least in the middle. But something about Ghibli that automatically should have told me I wouldn't like this as much as others IS the story.
I prefer when Ghibli does the more down to earth, realistic approach instead of balls to the wall fantasy. It explains why Whisper of the Heart is in my top 10 favorite movies of all time, whereas fan favorites like Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away are not (but still appreciated.) I think it's because anyone can do other world fantasy in a whimsical way. We see it all over the place. Leaving this game with little to stand out among the rest. As much as I prefer the more down to earth dramas Ghibli offers, something's telling me that wouldn't make as good a video game. Unless they took the Shenmue route, of course.
But even examining it with other Ghibli in mind it doesn't even stand out that much compared to their fantasy titles. Everything is as you'd expect it. It goes the direction you'd imagine it would. In short, it's definitely a predictable Ghibli story. If it were an actual movie it would likely live among the moderately popular titles instead of the heavy hitters everyone references and talks about.
Look... I still enjoyed my experience. It had enough going for it where I had fun playing. If I didn't I wouldn't have finished the damn game. Plus I wanted to see how it all ended. The easy recommendation is if you're a Ghibli fan you should check this out. But even that may be tough. This game is in an odd middle ground where fans of the movies may not be able to get into the RPG elements, depending on their experiences with video games. Whereas RPG fans may not be able to get into the mechanics. It's definitely trying to please many people at once. Does it fail? Yes and no. It's just so... meh... to me... with elements of good hidden between the cracks.
I got it for $5 on a good digital sale. I didn't not waste my money. It's currently $20 or less on average. You can do a lot worse in this day and age of gaming. Maybe pick this up over a five hour, $60 FPS campaign with questionable multiplayer. Who knows? Maybe this will be the bridge that gets you into RPGs. It is far more approachable than the heavy handed Final Fantasy games.
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