Nit Picking Ni No Kuni

[LumpyPotato12]

So the fact that Oliver's Mom dies is pretty common knowledge from any trailer of this game, but I couldn't get over the fact that no one in his home town cared that he would disappear for days only to come back every now and then to wave a stick around and say he was magician.

I mean what upsets me is that when his mom dies everyone is concerned for him bringing him snacks and what not and making sure he is okay. Then all of a sudden he disappears and comes back wearing a cape, waving a stick around and no one says anything about his behavior. Is this the normal traumatic mom dying grieving stages in Motorville? I would have enjoyed if the people in his hometown acted like they cared a little, but his dead mom thing is never really brought up until we are suppose to care about it. It makes me sad because it could have been used to develop Oliver as the protagonist a little bit more. Anyway did anyone else share this feeling? or disconnect? just thinking back throughout the game there are just so many instants missed that could have been key development moments for the party. Should I even care? after all it was rated E and suppose to be on the less adult-minded side?

 

[scorptatious]

Maybe the passage of time works differently in his world? I mean he left in the middle of the night and came out in broad daylight in Drippy's world.

Also, later on in the game:

Spoiler

You meet up with Phil, and he blames himself for Oliver's mom dying. Also, later on in the game, I believe right before you go to the Ivory Tower, you can talk to the Milk Bar lady and she tells you about how she met Alicia and how his mom loves him very much. It's information we already knew, but she does acknowledge those events.

Finally, if you check his mom's room, you can find the twelfth tale talking about how a man found this journal written by Alicia. The journal talks about how Alicia decided to become a wizard, went to the other world, and how she got pregnant with Oliver. Clears up quite a few things in my opinion.

Admitting, those are moments that you would probably describe as "moments when we're supposed to care", but I feel those moments worked in that aspect.

Something that's been on my mind as of late concerning the villains of the game:

MAJOR SPOILERS concerning the remaining 20% of the game.

Spoiler

Does anyone else think that the game would have been that different if the White Witch and everyone important to her arc i.e., the Zodiarcs and Pea were removed from the game entirely?

What I mean is, the way the game seemed to work, Shadar could have easily been the final boss, and the game could have easily ended without the whole part of the game involving the White Witch and the manna.

From what I've heard, in the DS version, Shadar was THE final boss, and the whole thing with the White Witch was added into the PS3 version. It kinda shows, Shadar is basically Oliver's (for lack of a better word) anti-thesis. Shadar is the one thing that prevents Oliver from rescuing his mom. And the whole sequence after the final battle with him could have easily been the ending sequence in the game. If the White Witch was removed from the game altogether, I don't think the game would have been changed that much.

Now, I'm not saying the parts of the game that involved the White Witch were bad, FAR from it. They provide a lot of interesting backstory to the game, like the history of the Wizard Wars, The Wizard King, and the guardians of the stones you collected. Not to mention the final battle was pretty good.

That being said, I found Shadar to be a more compelling villain than the White Witch, mostly considering how much he's so much like AND unlike Oliver. If that makes any sense.

I'm going to eat dinner now, so I apologize if things aren't that clear, I'll probably clear them up when I get back.

 

[LumpyPotato12]

What is the passage of time between motorville and drippy's world? It is not really explained (they could have used a wizard companion page to explain it for the people that would bother to read it) though I suppose this a moment when we should take it upon ourselves to just image how it works. Perhaps it is like lion the witch and the wardrobe, which would make things a bit easier to understand.

I think overall there was times that could have been stronger if they did even just a minor acknowledgement of the traumatic reason why Oliver decided to go on the quest. Such as certain moments in Swaine's back story maybe Oliver could have given him an acknowledging nod, or when someone is talking about their parents and in a small instant they look to Oliver to maybe just confirm if it is okay to talk about the topic. I just think that particular story piece could have been used better in the narrative given how it is a major motivator for what Oliver does.

As for closer to the ending:

Spoiler

You are right about how it explains more about the back story, but I almost felt that was unnecessary because they also could have given story pages for the wizard companion. I felt things wrapped up nicely after the defeat of Shadar and to be honest with the inclusion of the white witch and her evil council of doom it made the bad guys just look lazy and weakened their overall image (Through I highly enjoyed Gallus). With the inclusion of the white witch and her council, Shadar went from badass dark wizard to awful henchmen in my mind because of how painfully slow he decides to move against Oliver. Without the white witch and her council the game could have explored Shadar more in depth and I know they kinda explain this all ready after his defeat, but it would make Shadar actions easier to explain because with the council I felt Shadar was just doing a terrible job, when in reality he wanted to corrupt Oliver so Oliver would become just as twisted as he is (that is at least what I thought). Perhaps it would have been better if the developers actually cut this story line and made the White Witch its own DLC. Perhaps then they could develop her back story and make things more compelling and give players a chance to explore more hours of game play and get over all more revenue. With the white witch included it made this long game even longer, like a friend that sticks around at a party after everyone left, but still acts like they are having a good time.

 

[Cronky]

-snip-

I know this is necro-ing a somewhat dated thread, but since I see posts all the time saying "There is already a thread about this", I thought I'd just throw this here instead of starting a new one...

I might be just in the mindset after reading about Final Fantasy VII's "Squall's Dead" theory, but it was my first thought when playing through Ni No Kuni (Currently on the last boss, so I haven't seen the final cinematic) that it was going to culminate with us figuring out that Oliver actually died at the beginning. That we are just playing his adventure, in his head, to the afterlife.

I know I'm over thinking the actual story, but I feel it makes a tiny bit of sense...

ANYWAY ***POTENTIAL SPOILERS*** (Though no specific story details are listed. Only characters and how they relate)

Spoiler

-Such as you said above, nobody seems to concerned in the town about his actual mental health, instead only providing acknowledgement and food for comfort. (A child's understanding of mental trauma?)

-Oliver's life is completely normal, in terms magical things (Magic, Faries, Familiars, races, etc.), until the point in which his mother dies

-Most of the NPCs are copies of people/animals/things in his home town (stuff he remembers well)

-Shadar being his wavering acceptance over his death

-The White Witch being the overall journey of "walking towards the light" (common cliche phrase used when dying) before "leaving the other world"

Very general, I know, and I'm sure my theory has a ton of holes in it, but that's how I initially interpreted the story. It seemed a lot more deep that way too..

Also I just wanted to post this somewhere because I've kept it in my head too long...