Why is no one talking about Ni No Kuni?

[Matthewmagic]

I just beat Ni No Kuni and had an experience with it I could best describe as "Nirvana". I know JRPGs have taken a hit over the past few years, seeing as very few "Playable" ones come out anymore. I think the last "playable" JRPG might have been Kingdom Hearts 2. So Ni No Kuni being awesome seems like it should create a few waves? Or am I the only one who thought it was good?

 

[piinyouri]

I think most people feel it's a flawed gem.
It has a lot in it's favor, amazing design and art style, whimsical story ect.
But some of the game play issues drive some people away.
Grinding in particular I think is one of the big repulsors.

 

[Matthewmagic]

I never ran into an issue with grinding, but I also did all the side quests as they came up. I didn't mind them because of the merit card system. To be honest though if it where not for arkham city training me to do so, I would have never have gone near the side quests. So I can see how the game can wander into grinding territory if you are just going for the next bit of story. maybe I'm giving it to much credit, but I'm just baffled. If Halo was huge this game should be at least mentioned.

 

[shadow skill]

They are too busy playing it? I hear lots of good when it does come up.

 

[scorptatious]

I thought it was a very good game as well. Granted, it is a bit flawed. The party member A.I. was a bit unreliable at times. Although really I like to think that can be remedied by switching to different party members regularly when the situation calls for it.

Everything else about the game was awesome though. I liked the music, the characters were pretty fun, there is a lot to do even after the main game is over, and there's a large amount of familiars to choose and experiment with.

Also, Shadar is a fucking badass villain. Sure, he's not the most original villain out there, but goddamn, his voice actor did a spectacular job.

It's a good game. Plain and simple.

Grinding in particular I think is one of the big repulsors.

You know, I never really did all that much grinding. Unless doing sidequests and pretty much fighting every single battle while going to the places required for said sidequests counts as grinding. :/

Either way, I don't really get why that's such a negative towards it. It's a JRPG, that's sort of how things have always been in those kinds of games.

Although I can understand if you needed to do an excessive amount of grinding in order to beat a boss, but that never really happened with me.

 

[piinyouri]

It's a JRPG, that's sort of how things have always been in those kinds of games.

Oh I know, believe me I know. I used to play almost nothing but JRPG's back in middle/high school.
I'm not knocking the game for including it, just saying that not every one will enjoy that.
: )

 

[Zhukov]

Because it isn't much good?

I tried it out and quickly traded it back to whence it came.

It's basically like watching a sub par Studio Ghibli film except there are hours of really dull and messy combat jammed in between each scene. For some reason I thought Studio Ghibli might actually produce a JRGP that didn't revolve around grinding the local wildlife. Didn't really seem like their thing, y'know? But nope, random encounters are go!

The combat is an uncomfortable mix of real time and turn-based. You get chased around the arena by monsters in real time, while at the same time trying to navigate a typical bloody JRPG menu system. Whose bloody idea was that?

 

[Casual Shinji]

I played the demo, and the combat felt really messy and annoying.

I can stomach a lot for my Ghibli fix, but there's a limit and Ni No Kuni is it. Also, Tales from Earthsea and Porco Rosso. *blegh*

 

[madwarper]

Why? Because I haven't played it.
Why? Because the DS version was never released outside of Japan.
Why? I don't know... Because Level 5/Namco Bandai is afraid of money?

 

[SweetShark]

Sadly for saying this, but never played the game.
However I have to ask a question:
Does the game have the magic book that originally the developers said it will have?

 

[FourCartridge]

Sadly for saying this, but never played the game.
However I have to ask a question:
Does the game have the magic book that originally the developers said it will have?

The Wizard's Companion?

Yeah, it's in the game and you can read it, complete with translation guide for that strange alphabet in the back of the manual. A lot of pages are ripped out though and I clocked in at 32 minutes when I got it.

If you're talkin about an actual book, I think it's in a collector's edition. I only got the basic retail copy.

On the game itself though, I like what I've played so far. The combat system is a bit unwieldy(they should have gone with a Thousand Year Door style system IMO), but otherwise it's hitting the right notes of charm and all that.

For someone who's name is on the title though, the White Witch doesn't really do anything this far into the game(I'm about the enter the erupting volcano)...

 

[Genocidicles]

A play a few JRPGs, but I gave this one a miss because the title sounds way too stupid.

 

[SweetShark]

Sadly for saying this, but never played the game.
However I have to ask a question:
Does the game have the magic book that originally the developers said it will have?

The Wizard's Companion?

Yeah, it's in the game and you can read it, complete with translation guide for that strange alphabet in the back of the manual. A lot of pages are ripped out though and I clocked in at 32 minutes when I got it.

If you're talkin about an actual book, I think it's in a collector's edition. I only got the basic retail copy.

On the game itself though, I like what I've played so far. The combat system is a bit unwieldy(they should have gone with a Thousand Year Door style system IMO), but otherwise it's hitting the right notes of charm and all that.

For someone who's name is on the title though, the White Witch doesn't really do anything this far into the game(I'm about the enter the erupting volcano)...

Then I sadly must say I am very disappointed by the developers.
I still remember in the news that the developers created on purpouse a physical book so not only give the players a good reason to emerge more in the world of the game, but also prevent the piracy of this game.

It is like the Metal Gear Solid game.
If you remember you needed to look at the back of the box of the game to see the frequency to talk with Meryl.

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

I just beat Ni No Kuni and had an experience with it I could best describe as "Nirvana". I know JRPGs have taken a hit over the past few years, seeing as very few "Playable" ones come out anymore. I think the last "playable" JRPG might have been Kingdom Hearts 2. So Ni No Kuni being awesome seems like it should create a few waves? Or am I the only one who thought it was good?

We were all talking about it the week it came out, I guess we all got our fix then?
As for me, I played it, I loved it, I'm pretty much through with it now.

I thought it was a pretty solid game, my only issue really being with party member AI,
the grinding complaint is overblown because the merit card system, side quest and monster collecting makes you feel like you're making progress rather than just mindlessly fighting baddies. The characters who seemed abrasive at first actually turned out to be the most endearing (Drippy and Swaine), and the world has the characteristic Ghibli whimsy.

 

[Tanakh]

Because it's not on the PC, otherwise I would buy it on a heartbeat.

 

[Lilani]

I think we did talk about it, on these forums anyway. A few weeks ago, or whenever it was that it came out. Then SimCity was released and now everybody's talking about that.

 

[Headdrivehardscrew]

I think Ni No Kuni absolutely rocks.

But since we finished it, I never felt like picking it up again.

It's like a dream.

You wake up, and it's pretty much gone. We got all the gear we wanted to get. We grinded grindcore levels of grind. We had to wait for 80% of playtime to get the ingredients for one ultimate piece of equipment. We had no idea when those ingredients would pop up, we had no idea where they would drop or what the creature would look like. Once we figured it out, the game was pretty much over already. Yeah.

 

[The White Hunter]

I know JRPGs have taken a hit over the past few years, seeing as very few "Playable" ones come out anymore. I think the last "playable" JRPG might have been Kingdom Hearts 2.

lol no.

There have been plenty of fantastic JRPG's this gen man, where have you been?

OT: I plan to pick it up if I get a cheap PS3, games looks interesting and I like the thing with the Welsh accent.

Yeah but most of those have been on handhelds to be fair and not every has handhelds. The DS has dozens of the bloody things for a start and the PSP wasn't exactly lacking them. There's also a few gems on the Wii.

Relative to the PS2 generation there have been relatively few amazing ones, though, and from what I've just been watching FFXIII-3 looks set to continue the trend of having a terribad battle system and characters I just can't give a shit about.

OT: It looks interesting and I may try it at some point but I haven't seen it in a store and I don't have much cash around at the moment.

 

[Assassin Xaero]

People wouldn't shut up about it when it came out... And, well, now that I think about it, all people every said about it was how long it was ("we haven't written our review yet because we are still playing it - this game is so long!!!!11"). That is really the only thing I heard about it.