Ni no Kuni (PS3)

[Setzer007]

I played this at E3 and i wasn't feeling it that much.. I guess i'll try out the demo and make a decision from there if i still wanna get it.

-Setz-

[Kat]

So I tried the demo and I sort of enjoyed it. In particular, the world map has got me and the volcano area. The game looks very pretty and the battle system feels better than it looks. The only thing I don't like is the kid character, but oh well.

[Finalfantasykid]

Ok here is my review of the demo.

I didn't like how the forest level just threw you in there with no battle experience, and the first thing you see is a boss, I think it should have had a few battles with regular monsters first just to get to know the basics of the gameplay. This is of course only a problem with the demo, the actual game will have a much more gradual introduction to the battle mechanics. Also the second level did not have this problem, since you have to climb a volcano to get to the boss, and along the way are monsters. Other than that problem, I found the gameplay very enjoyable, and very fast, you have to be on your toes to defend against the boss's ultimate attacks. Also, something I noticed just at the very end of the second level, is that you can set up different tactics when you have multiple party members. You can choose to have your party members go between support, attacking, and that sort of thing, sort of like with FFXII and FFXIII.

Graphically the game isn't the most impressive since it looks like the character models are low resolution or something, but luckily the art style greatly makes up for this. The volcano level was particularly impressive, especially the first shot when you gain control of your character. The camera system is decent, but sometimes it gets stuck behind grass and things like that, or it will move on it's own and maybe do something you didn't want it to do. There were several camera options, maybe one of them would improve this (I doubt it though).

I loved the music in the game, although one thing which worries me is the repetitiveness of the battle music. I can see that track getting old very fast, so hopefully there are different battle tracks for different areas, that would keep it fresh. I also really liked the sound effects, very JRPG-like . The demo didn't feature very much voice acting, so it is difficult to judge this aspect too much yet, but from what I heard, the voice acting was decent, not great, but good enough.

[Phoenix]

I agree with you with regards to the way the demo introduces the gameplay mechanics (as in, it barely introduces them at all and just leaves you to figure it out for yourself against a boss of all things). The thing that confused me at first was how useless the familiar seemed in the first boss fight since Oliver can just run away and spam fireball to win easily. The Volcano demo changed that though by making all of the familiars and Oliver equally as useful and the combat ended up feeling pretty enjoyable once I finally understood what I was doing.

The visuals in this game are absolutely beautiful, everything just feels so immersive whether it be running through the forest or the volcano, even the world map feels like its on a whole different level visually compared to other cel-shaded JRPG's. I think the only other game I can think of with a cel-shaded graphical style that impressed me this much is the first Valkyria Chronicles.

Music sounds fine, I don't love it but I don't dislike it either. Maybe when I hear the full OST I can give a better opinion. Voice-acting wise it sounded decent but nothing amazing like you said (Drippy's dialogue did amuse me though).

[Jesus]

music is nice

[Levis.seraph]

http://www.ign.com/videos/2012/12/20...-video-preview

IGN preview! Sounds pretty good! The HD pokemon game I've always wanted!

[Finalfantasykid]

Gametrailers made a really nice preview http://www.gametrailers.com/videos/e...-witch-preview. I love their little attack on other jrpg developers excuses for not having standard jrpg stuff

[Erza]

I plan on picking this up next week maybe. I absolutely loved the demo, and the reviews say it is an amazing RPG game. Probably not on the level of Xenoblade, but you know what I mean. I know people say the designs are kiddish, but I ultimately do not care. It looks cute at least xD and Oliver is not exactly a kid. I loved the battle system, it reminded me of a cross between Xenoblade and pokemon.

[Fox]

I was dubious about picking it up as I'm just convinced about the Ghibli style in a game. Or at least not an RPG. And not just in terms of the art, I wonder how their brand of symbolic, surreal storytelling will last the distance. But I think the reviews I've seen so far have persuaded me, it looks like the kind of thing I really should experience. As Erza says, I highly doubt this will be as good as Xenoblade (because, let's face it, that game was utter genius), but that just means my expectations are set at a reasonable level.

So I will finish off Tales of Graces (assuming I can ever come to grips with this blasted battle system) and then start on Ni No Kuni. Hopefully it'll be the game that really picks Level 5 up in my estimations.

[Finalfantasykid]

I hope to pick this game up day 1 it is available some where. I'm glad this game is getting the reviews it gets since it totally deserves it simply based on the premise of the game being more of a traditional JRPG. I hope it is extremely successful so that it shows other JRPG developers (*cough* Square Enix) that western gamers still want the traditional JRPG.

[Jesus]

Aye, go on amazon and make a search for the game. It says #1 Best Seller!

[boxtroll]

Aye, go on amazon and make a search for the game. It says #1 Best Seller!

I need to get a ps3 but with the next gen around the corner its not really worth it ill just wait for them to get really cheap

[Crazy Knives]

I hope to pick this game up day 1 it is available some where. I'm glad this game is getting the reviews it gets since it totally deserves it simply based on the premise of the game being more of a traditional JRPG. I hope it is extremely successful so that it shows other JRPG developers (*cough* Square Enix) that western gamers still want the traditional JRPG.

Do you live around a lot of game shops that dont usually carry these sort of niche titles?

[Finalfantasykid]

Do you live around a lot of game shops that dont usually carry these sort of niche titles?

In the past I have had bad luck with games being released the the stores don't have the games for at least a couple of days. But I checked, and it looks like they are in stock, so I'll be going out tonight to get the game.

[Serah]

This game will supposedly be up on the PSN as a digital download next week if anyone is unable to find it in stores for whatever reason. o;