Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

 PlayStation 3
User Score
8.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 1174 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,000 out of 1174
  2. Mixed: 99 out of 1174
  3. Negative: 75 out of 1174
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  1. Maffa2099
    Mar 2, 2013
    8
    First of all I'm a JPRG sucker and Ghibli fanboy. This game had me salivating for months before release. So I was willing it to be great. But after playing about 20 hours I'm able to be fairly honest and open about my experiences with the game and have found it is far from perfect. It is utterly charming and looks awesome can't deny either of those things, but it does feel like it takesFirst of all I'm a JPRG sucker and Ghibli fanboy. This game had me salivating for months before release. So I was willing it to be great. But after playing about 20 hours I'm able to be fairly honest and open about my experiences with the game and have found it is far from perfect. It is utterly charming and looks awesome can't deny either of those things, but it does feel like it takes an age for the world to open up and allow you to explore more freely. The battles over the first few hours pose little to no challenge which makes a cool battle system get a bit old before it finally starts to open up several hours in. The story isn't amazing, although it is fun enough. Drippy is the star of the show here really cool, funny character.
    I've gone with an 8 out of 10 as I'm having fun with the game and it's game porn to look at, but I can't help but feel it's not quite as amazing as we were all hoping it would be.    … Expand
  2. Magisan
    Mar 10, 2013
    8
    A magnificent game without a doubt, but with flaws. You can take my 50 hours into the game as some credibility. The game starts off very nicely and the combat is fun. Lots of items, equipments and familars essential for a great RPG are present here. The music is great, animation is amazing, and a huge and vast world is out there for exploration goodness to give that great old-school RPGA magnificent game without a doubt, but with flaws. You can take my 50 hours into the game as some credibility. The game starts off very nicely and the combat is fun. Lots of items, equipments and familars essential for a great RPG are present here. The music is great, animation is amazing, and a huge and vast world is out there for exploration goodness to give that great old-school RPG feeling. So then what are the flaws? The first noticeable and consistent flaw is perhaps the linearity of the dungeons and areas. It is masked well by chests and other rewards that are placed in all kinds of spots but *essentially* it is a one-way road to get through most areas. The only exception to the linearity is the world map. The second noticeable flaw becomes more apparent later on in the game and also becomes possibly the worst flaw in the game. The AI in this game for controlling your party is simply put, dreadful. The AI will, at times, not listen to what it is ordered to do, and it will also make some odd decisions that can easily put the whole party to death. It is very hard to control them since you are only allowed to control one character at a time and it is intended for the player to rely on the AI for the actions of the other party members. The AI is extremely picky in a sense that it works better with particular familiar combinations than others. You could say that the AI alone drags this game from a 10 to a 8.5, it really is that terrible.… Expand
  3. oneandonlywm3
    Apr 21, 2013
    8
    At first I was so hesitate as to whether I should buy this or not. I saw the reviews and most of the reviews gave it an 8 or above, so that's not something you see often. I decided to buy it and I honestly don't regret buying it. It has a feeling of Final Fantasy and Pokemon combined, two of my favourite JRPG games. The story and game play may seem slow at first, but as you progress,At first I was so hesitate as to whether I should buy this or not. I saw the reviews and most of the reviews gave it an 8 or above, so that's not something you see often. I decided to buy it and I honestly don't regret buying it. It has a feeling of Final Fantasy and Pokemon combined, two of my favourite JRPG games. The story and game play may seem slow at first, but as you progress, you'll soon realise that the game's worth it, and the story would indulge you to play nonstop.… Expand
  4. M9ki
    Jun 29, 2013
    8
    Good game but I prefer mature games but over all it was quite good.Its one of those repetitive games so if your ok with that then your surely will love this game.
  5. zanella_marco
    Oct 10, 2014
    8
    Se da un lato ci sono innumerevoli ragioni per considerare Ni no Kuni un’eccellente JRPG, dall’altro voglio segnalare piccoli ma incisivi “difetti” che non ho gradito. A partire dall’IA degli alleati che più volte si è mostrata inaffidabile e mi ha messo in difficoltà, costringendomi ad intervenire andando a comandare i compagni di Oliver che usavano improbabili e discutibili strategieSe da un lato ci sono innumerevoli ragioni per considerare Ni no Kuni un’eccellente JRPG, dall’altro voglio segnalare piccoli ma incisivi “difetti” che non ho gradito. A partire dall’IA degli alleati che più volte si è mostrata inaffidabile e mi ha messo in difficoltà, costringendomi ad intervenire andando a comandare i compagni di Oliver che usavano improbabili e discutibili strategie offensive. Le missioni legate ai cuorinfranti sono ripetitive e noiose a lungo andare. Forse però la cosa che più mi ha dato fastidio è la mancata originalità che gli sviluppatori hanno dimostrato nel copiare il mondo Pokémon. Circa 8 anni fa giocavo con i classici Rosso e Blu su Game Boy. Forte di quei lontani ricordi, ho “odiato” vedere in Ni no Kuni le stesse idee che hanno portato al successo mondiale Satoshi Tajiri, creatore della serie di videogiochi Pokémon. Per questa serie di ragioni non valuto Ni no Kuni come meriterebbe per il lavoro svolto dallo Studio Ghibli, che mi ha sorpreso ed emozionato sino alla fine, con l’appassionante storia di Oliver.… Expand
  6. Krizuwe
    Nov 20, 2013
    8
    Un grandísimo juego, el mejor de rol, duradero, divertido y entusiasmante. Engancha de principio a fin y es el único juego de rol wue recomendaría. Como todos los juegos también tiene fallos y errores, entre ellos: se vuelve repetitivo estar siempre luchando. La trama esta muy bien ambientada, pero como dije, a lo largo del juego te aburre estar siempre luchando.
  7. archonome
    Jun 4, 2014
    8
    I can't give it a fair review because honestly I stopped playing very early(within 3 hours). However, there is nothing horrible about this game but EVERYTHING IS EXCELLENT!!!

    1)Remember the RPGs of the 1990s? Chrono trigger, Secret of Mana, Shining Force? etc etc THIS GAME BRINGS LOVE AND PASSION BACK INTO THESE GAMES!! 2)Combining epic Movie studio + love for old school rpgs =    I can't give it a fair review because honestly I stopped playing very early(within 3 hours). However, there is nothing horrible about this game but EVERYTHING IS EXCELLENT!!!

    1)Remember the RPGs of the 1990s? Chrono trigger, Secret of Mana, Shining Force? etc etc THIS GAME BRINGS LOVE AND PASSION BACK INTO THESE GAMES!!

    2)Combining epic Movie studio + love for old school rpgs = 10/10 for me.

    3)The bad Part that made me quit? The Theme was too childish.

    I give it a 8/10 because the positive overshadows the negative.    … Expand
  8. Andjelico
    Nov 6, 2014
    8
    This is the best modern JRPG game i have ever played. It's like a mix of Pokemon, Zelda and Final Fantasy!
    The story is touching, fantastic animation, matching music, and really fun combat system.
    It's a big plus that this game have many different side quests, but some of them can be boring. These alchemy and Derwin quests took so much time, i don't understand why the team needed to do    This is the best modern JRPG game i have ever played. It's like a mix of Pokemon, Zelda and Final Fantasy!
    The story is touching, fantastic animation, matching music, and really fun combat system.

    It's a big plus that this game have many different side quests, but some of them can be boring. These alchemy and Derwin quests took so much time, i don't understand why the team needed to do these quests so complicated...

    But overall this game is fantastic and challenging on a great way!    … Expand
  9. SpenserReynolds
    Jun 2, 2015
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This was a very surprisingly pleasant little RPG. I went in not expecting this from it.

    "Pokemon". OK people. We act like pokemon is the only thing ever to take the concept of having creatures be your friends and help you fight. Chill out. Yes, I can see that this is reminiscent of pokemon, certainly. But many games use this; it is not a ripe-off. Calm down. I really enjoyed the familiars-based combat (but holy your AI party members will be really stupid with theirs sometimes, like dang, hope you're ready to baby sit during combat). Leveling familiars can be a little annoying sometimes, but later in the game there is an easy creature that dishes out a lot of EXP so the grind becomes not so bad.

    POSITIVE:
    The sort of dual plot is where I was surprised- the ambiguity of this make believe world, for me, was stunning. There is the surface level little-boy-saves-fantasy-world part to it, which was honestly quite cute (against my usual opinions). Then on another level, there was the implication that the world didn't really exist at all and was really just a coping method for the little boy's loss of his mother.

    The graphics are very cute, and the occasional Ghibli animated parts were truly a treat.

    The universe was pleasant. And the throwback to a world map based game (I am referring to FF7 style) was refreshing, but also very nice that the battles were not random encounter- you see the enemies and it takes you into another screen. I ABSOLUTELY LOVED that lower level enemies run from me. Like, how realistic, right? Wouldn't they though? But anyway. I was also excited by each new location (and also how not terribly painful they were. dungeons are brief and to-the-point).

    The sidequests were pleasant (some repetitive, but hey, they're 100% optional). They often send you back to previous locations, but you obtain a fast travel and THE LOWER LEVEL ENEMIES DON'T INSIST ON WASTING YOUR TIME. WHICH IS GREAT. So you can come and go to low level areas without wanting to shoot yourself as you please.

    After-game content is not pure grinding! Which is cool! (the after game, unfortunately, is not chronologically after you save the world. this is still a rare thing in games. it takes you back to before you won. but that is fine).

    MEH:
    Nothing is perfect, of course.

    The music was ok. Just your standard adventure game music, about what you would expect.

    The characters and their relationships. The duality of the plot was great, but the surface level plot was about what you would expect tbqh. The characters didn't really do much to surprise you with their behavior (the grumpy one was grumpy, the two who always bickered still always bickered, the jokes were silly at best, etc.) This is easily excused, for me, by it being the creation of a little boy struggling with grief.    … Expand
  10. Sammy680
    Jul 16, 2015
    8
    Nowhere near as great as it's made out to be- and far from perfect. It's a good game but has severe flaws and the story can be quite dull at times and nonsensical at others.

    It personally took me a loooong time to get into the story; the intro was rather bland and aside from the legendary Mr. Drippy, the characters in the beginning aren't especially exciting. Oliver is your typical    Nowhere near as great as it's made out to be- and far from perfect. It's a good game but has severe flaws and the story can be quite dull at times and nonsensical at others.

    It personally took me a loooong time to get into the story; the intro was rather bland and aside from the legendary Mr. Drippy, the characters in the beginning aren't especially exciting. Oliver is your typical do-gooder-no-personality-whatsoever hero, and remains uninspiring throughout the game.

    Graphics-wise, the game is gorgeous, and I often found myself taking time out to simply look around. The cut scenes by Studio Ghibli are the typical fare you'd expect from them.

    The soundtrack is brilliant, not much else to say on that point!

    Apart from the story, the biggest flaw is the AI of your comrades. This makes later battles incredibly annoying at times- for example, I've set them to heal before and they do anything but that- and the game could've benefited greatly from a FF12 style gambit system or something similar, giving greater control over the party members.

    The familiars are a fun aspect of the game and will appeal to most Pokemon fans.

    The Wizard's Companion is actually one of my favourite aspects of the game, but for anyone who hates large amounts of reading it may seem choresome trawling through it for certain side quests- thankfully there is always Google!

    I think they also missed a trick by not utilising all of the spells you acquire over the game; some spells you don't have the opportunity to use at all. Many spells are just fillers and I found that disappointing.

    Overall this a game worth playing, but it's far from the best JRPG ever.    … Expand
  11. Empyrea
    Jan 24, 2019
    8
    I've just beaten the game so here goes my impressions: my first 6 hours were really great because everything was new. Graphics are really great, it's like an anime. It reminds me a bit Dragon Quest VIII. Soundtrack is really good as well, although the music in the battles can be repetitive as it can be these battles. About gameplay, is a mix of both turn based and real time based andI've just beaten the game so here goes my impressions: my first 6 hours were really great because everything was new. Graphics are really great, it's like an anime. It reminds me a bit Dragon Quest VIII. Soundtrack is really good as well, although the music in the battles can be repetitive as it can be these battles. About gameplay, is a mix of both turn based and real time based and reminds the Pokemon games. About plot is interesting at first. I think this game would have been better if it was shorter and with a more entertaining battle system. I think this is a really good game for children and young people but even if you're an adult and you are not only focused in bloody games with insults you're gonna enjoy this game. About difficulty, I didn't have much problems in easy mode until the end. Just make sure to save this game from time to time an especially when you are close to the "star" in the map (which is the main mission) because sometimes you can find a boss without having saved your game and save when you are a little far from the star cause sometimes you don't even reach the star and a scene triggers and sometimes is a boss. About bosses, if you have problems don't bother in leveling up your team. You only need to change your strategy, use the right attacks and have some potions in your bag. Doing this will be enough until you are finishing the game were enemies will be hard. My advice: do all the Horace riddles when you are close to the end. He will give you very good spells such Veil (with this you can avoid battles) and other strong spells. That's all. So yes, this is a good game. There should be more anime games like this in ps3 and ps4. It took me 39 hours to beat the game and a total of 44 hours and half to reach the real final. I beat the real final bosses at level 50 but with many PM potions (more than 20 and I used them all but 1). The worst of the final enemies is that your strongest spells are very slow to shoot and you can't cancel them to protect yourself when they send you a strong spell. This is the main gap I think.… Expand
  12. greg555
    Nov 9, 2017
    8
    Excellent story, music, art. Only setback the unending battles with a tiresome real-time battle system. Abandoned it at 60%, not bearing more and more required battles... Worth trying it anyway.
  13. brendo214
    Aug 13, 2019
    8
    I absolutely loved the way that Ni No Kuni combines the collection of Pokemon from Pokemon and the semi-realtime combat system from a few JPRGs. It led to really fun and unique gameplay.
  14. rachillustrate
    May 14, 2018
    8
    Ni No Kuni is a fun and charming game filled with endearing characters and an enchanting world. Although the story may not be incredibly deep or complex, it’s well-executed and keeps things interesting. However, the battle system can be frustrating as you are constantly questioning your AI party members' intelligence and decision-making skills. The "familiars" bring a unique angle to theNi No Kuni is a fun and charming game filled with endearing characters and an enchanting world. Although the story may not be incredibly deep or complex, it’s well-executed and keeps things interesting. However, the battle system can be frustrating as you are constantly questioning your AI party members' intelligence and decision-making skills. The "familiars" bring a unique angle to the battles though and I find myself looking forward to exploring new areas specifically to find new creatures to add to my team. The animations created by Studio Ghibli also make the game a wonder to look at. Overall, a great game that is definitely worth jumping into.… Expand
  15. AbhinavDasiga
    Mar 31, 2020
    8
    A JRPG straight out of a fairy tale book, Ni No Kuni impresses with its scope and characters. There are dull moments in between but they don't detract too much from this charming and whimsical adventure.
  16. BigDragon
    Feb 19, 2013
    7
    The Good This game attempts to combine the monsters of Pokemon, epic world and scope of Final Fantasy, gameplay of Secret of Mana, and story of a movie like Spirited Away. It does a great job of wrapping these things up and creating a beautiful and eye-catching package. Sometimes making a good game isn't about pushing polygons or competitiveness. I really enjoyed the characters,The Good This game attempts to combine the monsters of Pokemon, epic world and scope of Final Fantasy, gameplay of Secret of Mana, and story of a movie like Spirited Away. It does a great job of wrapping these things up and creating a beautiful and eye-catching package. Sometimes making a good game isn't about pushing polygons or competitiveness. I really enjoyed the characters, environments, and story development in this game. It's nice to play a modern JRPG. The inclusion of anime scenes and voice talent also added to the experience. Overall, a great game worthy of investing time into. There are so many characters and creatures to discover and environments to roam around in. We need more games like this one! I had to borrow a PS3 to play this title and do not regret it.

    The Bad Jack of all trades, master of none applies here. I found the familiar/monster designs to be rather lacking. It seems they took the good designs and played a DLC shell game with them across regions and retailers. The DLC creatures are much stronger than the ones in the normal game resulting in a major difficulty spike when you try to leave the first continent. This game could have really benefited from more appealing creatures to catch. Furthermore, the actual mechanics where you impress and tame creatures are unbelievably tedious. Metamorphosis resetting creature levels back to 1 is also very annoying. The combat seems to revolve around running away, restoring MP because it drains so quickly, and bumbling through switching to and from characters to keep the AI from failing to defend against attacks. Really tedious much of the time. The game also could have benefited from more voice acting rather than switching between anime, in-game animation, and wall of text mode. PS3-exclusivity also hurts this title by limiting its audience. They really should put together a Kickstarter campaign to get this game released on Steam for the PC.

    Final Word If you're a fan of Pokemon, Final Fantasy, Secret of Mana, Breath of Fire, Chrono Trigger, or other JRPGs then you should definitely pick up Ni No Kuni. The wall of text dialogue, tedious battles, and frustrating AI may (but not necessarily!) deter everyone else.    … Expand
  17. mrnice
    Dec 25, 2013
    7
    I'm a mid-twenties man who just emerged from forty hours in Ni No Kuni. If I was ten years younger and it was my first JRPG, it might well have been the best game ever. But there is so much grinding, so many elements I've seen exactly like this before. The first two hours introduced the story magically, touchingly, worthwhile-y, but were also way too easy. The battles became hard duringI'm a mid-twenties man who just emerged from forty hours in Ni No Kuni. If I was ten years younger and it was my first JRPG, it might well have been the best game ever. But there is so much grinding, so many elements I've seen exactly like this before. The first two hours introduced the story magically, touchingly, worthwhile-y, but were also way too easy. The battles became hard during the game, and even on the easiest difficulty, I had plenty of challenge. The 'Pokemon' aspect seems like a gimmick for much of the game, but when you play quests that ask you to find specific monsters, it makes a whole lotta sense. The environments are not very lively, since apparently they were designed to fit on a Nintendo 3DS cartridge or something. So it's definitely not a system-stretcher. But I loved the story, I loved how it taught morales every few hours and contained a lot of (common) wisdom in the greater theme. I loved the translation work, where especially "flipping" has become my new favorite alternative to 'freaking', or 'f***ing'... The meow-ifications of the cats' vocabulary, and the extreme amount of puns (the skeletons that say "having the time of my death" etc) were absolutely wonderful. Scenery and places and characters are all Ghibli magic. The only thing that weighs the title down is the triviality of the grinding/travelling, and how many elements are lifted from earlier titles of the genre. Still, what a wonderful game, at places! It's a true adventure of rich imagination. Too bad the game mechanics aren't as imaginative.… Expand
  18. sias
    Jun 12, 2013
    7
    Good: Wonderful art style, animation and cute voice acting, with tons to see and do. Ni No Kuni is a wonderfully epic old-school JRPG that revives the overworld and elements of exploration that franchises like Final Fantasy have cast away. The story is simple, but heartfelt and the characters equally simple yet colourful. A wonderful game for children or anyone who's looking for a cutesyGood: Wonderful art style, animation and cute voice acting, with tons to see and do. Ni No Kuni is a wonderfully epic old-school JRPG that revives the overworld and elements of exploration that franchises like Final Fantasy have cast away. The story is simple, but heartfelt and the characters equally simple yet colourful. A wonderful game for children or anyone who's looking for a cutesy adventure devoid of cynicism and violence.

    Bad: However, Ni No Kuni is let down by a poorly designed combat system where party and enemy combat animations cancel each other out creating some very unfair battles; and a frustrating pokemon-like taming mechanic which cannot be actively influenced and so requires nothing but mindless grinding. In addition to these flaws, side quest design is underwhelming and requires an awful lot of tedious NPC hunting and party AI during battle is at times atrocious, artificially increasing the difficulty of the game.    … Expand
  19. wesker2012
    Jan 26, 2013
    7
    I'm a bit disappointed with this game. I was expecting for sure it would blow me away and would be a solid 10 game or def. at least a 9. The first problem with the game is although its supposed to be an emotional journey, you never really any emotional weight in the game. You are merely just going through the motions of what the game tells you to do. The game moves at a glacial paceI'm a bit disappointed with this game. I was expecting for sure it would blow me away and would be a solid 10 game or def. at least a 9. The first problem with the game is although its supposed to be an emotional journey, you never really any emotional weight in the game. You are merely just going through the motions of what the game tells you to do. The game moves at a glacial pace and I was expecting the pace, emotional weight, and gameplay to pick up and come together as a fun and emotional journey. But it never becomes that game. Instead most of the dialogue is needless and skippable. And you feel like you are going from one place to another just for the sake of it. You never really feel any urgency to your quest. The gameplay mechanics at first are creative and refreshing but get old after the umpteenth time in battle. The story and pacing becomes predictable and a bore while the only thing that keeps you playing is to see the next gorgeous locales and to see if there are any cool twists in the story. The sidequests aren't that fun either and are chores. The upsides of the game is its unique mix of warm, humorous, and dark themes and locales in the game. The voice acting is great but I wish there was more of it. Overall, if you a fan of tradional RPGs, you'll love this game otherwise if you are growing a bit tired of the formula, you might be a bit disappointed. All in all, it's a solid RPG.… Expand
  20. Babaganoush
    Mar 2, 2013
    7
    I love Studio Ghibli art. The environment is great the story is for kids... but then again that fits the Ghibli frame so I don't really mind it. What KILLS this game is the terrible battle AI. When you play games with AI controlled party members from Xenoblade or Tales of Grace, they're competent. Ni no Kuni is UNACCEPTABLY TERRIBLE. Be prepared to have them drain all your MP on uselessI love Studio Ghibli art. The environment is great the story is for kids... but then again that fits the Ghibli frame so I don't really mind it. What KILLS this game is the terrible battle AI. When you play games with AI controlled party members from Xenoblade or Tales of Grace, they're competent. Ni no Kuni is UNACCEPTABLY TERRIBLE. Be prepared to have them drain all your MP on useless things, continue fighting when you tell them to defend, etc. Most of the difficulty in battle comes from the terrible TERRIBLE AI. It's also is a VERY handholding game. For example, around the Ni no Kuni world, there are NPCs that are heartbroken. Instead of letting you figure out what part of their heart needs mending, you are told which one you need to give. It gets a bit repetitive when you have to talk to the NPC then go to the spell list to cast, instead of just going up and using the spell shortcut to do it yourself.

    But then again, this is a E for Everyone game. It's a good RPG for the younger generation to start out with, but many experienced RPG players may find it a bit simplistic... and frustrating thanks to the AI. Especially from your second party member...    … Expand
  21. wildemu
    May 18, 2013
    7
    The game really sinks you into its world in the first 4-5 hours, but then there are certain aspects of the game that start to get exposed.

    PROS: Art/World: It's beautiful. Ghibli did a great job of designing the parallel worlds and getting you immersed into each unique environment. Soundtrack: The scores in this game are top notch, really catchy. Story: Touching, at times    The game really sinks you into its world in the first 4-5 hours, but then there are certain aspects of the game that start to get exposed.

    PROS:

    Art/World: It's beautiful. Ghibli did a great job of designing the parallel worlds and getting you immersed into each unique environment.

    Soundtrack: The scores in this game are top notch, really catchy.

    Story: Touching, at times mature, but trying to keep it on the kiddie level. You are motivated go on this journey to save Oliver's mom.

    CONS:

    1. Familiar leveling/zeroing. You are given familiars(pokemon) to be part of your party system, and I like the fact they have their unique abilities, but I don't understand why every familiar you catch has to start at level 1. It would save a lot of time and grinding for it to just to be scaled up to your level. Also, when you want to do metamorphosis on one of your fav. familiar, it also goes back to level 1 and work its way up again. I just find this mechanic unnecessary and wasting the gamer's time. You could be at level 50, and then you have to sideline your familiar for 40 something levels until it finally reaches your range again.

    2. Too linear. The game is beautiful, but it is suffering from the same aspect that Final Fantasy XIII suffered from, and that's the linearity of the levels. You just walk down one path in the dungeon, apart from chests on short sidepaths, and just run into monster after monster until you face the final boss of the dungeon. You want to explore this lush, huge world but most of the levels are railed.

    3. MP/HP conservation. Basically, this isn't xenoblade or FF where you can have health/magic regenerate after every fight. You need to conserve your health/magic points because there are quite a number of enemies to defeat before you reach a checkpoint that restores all your health/magic. Some may find this mechanic more fun, but I found it crippling in making me enjoy the combat. Too often I would just attack/defend/healing touch throughout the dungeon and not use the cool abilities of my familiars because they cost too much magic. The combat would have a lot more flow if you didn't have to worry about conserving your magic between enemies.

    4. Clunky ai. My partners stunk. You can arrange the familiars to their strengths, and you can change the tactics, but too often my partners would run out of magic too fast or use the wrong familiar for the situation. More often than not, they would drop mid-fight and it would just be up to Oliver. You can control the partner, but then Oliver would start stinking it up.

    I can see why this game received a lot of love, and I did give it a really fair shot, but the game designing choices just didn't agree with me.    … Expand
  22. LumpyPotato23
    Feb 9, 2013
    7
    Bottom Line: If you are a JRPG or just an RPG fan, this game is worth owning and I can confidently say you will enjoy it, however there are some pacing issues which makes the game difficult to play through at times. The Good: Ni No Kuni is probably one of the most visually appealing games that I have played in a long time and I salute the developers for how they blended the story, musicBottom Line: If you are a JRPG or just an RPG fan, this game is worth owning and I can confidently say you will enjoy it, however there are some pacing issues which makes the game difficult to play through at times. The Good: Ni No Kuni is probably one of the most visually appealing games that I have played in a long time and I salute the developers for how they blended the story, music and visuals together to create beautiful synergy that is appealing to players. In addition, the story, while lacking some character development, is solid and constant with elements that compels you to continue playing. It is easy to lose hours of daylight playing Ni No Kuni so I recommend you keep a schedule just so you remember to eat. Ni No Kuni plays out a lot like a movie and I am glad they were able to incorporate some movie like aspects to this game because like most RPGs the story is what drives the game. On an individual level, battle is engaging because of the variety of options you have to command. You can use your main character who will specialize in particular skills or use your familiars for more specialized stats that better serve the battle field. There are a lot of side quests, exploration and a variety of different things that can consume your time in Ni No Kuni, which gives this all ready long game even more content for the player to enjoy. The Bad: Ni No Kuni defines for players what it truly means to grind. Normally grinding is not a thing that would bother me, but in Ni No Kuni compared to other RPGs makes grinding mandatory. This is because the battle difficultly grows exponentially whenever you travel to a new section and if your characters are under leveled then be prepared to get beat more than a punching bag. Thanks to this grinding it slows down the pace of the game and I safety compare the pacing of this game to being on a glacier moving aimlessly through the ocean. This means that it is possible to invest hours of game play and get only one suspenseful and/or engaging moment in the storyline. What makes matters worse is the AI lacks basic survival skills due to their nasty habit of charging the enemies only to get stomped to death. This is particularly troublesome during boss fights, which at times comes down to Oliver and the over-powered, over-sized baddie. While the game will give you basic commands like All-Out Attack and All-Out Defense the tactics involved in battle don't go deeper than that, but it will help you keep your AI allies alive longer. Perhaps the lack of tactics was a game mechanic choice to show the inexperience of Oliver's leadership capabilities, but I certainly wouldn't complain if they made the AI commands more specific. You could try micro-managing, but that will get frustrating quickly.… Expand
  23. tsakiym
    May 18, 2015
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I do not have to say anything. But i need to write one hundred and fifty characters. i think my score can describe it.................................… Expand
  24. MadOrange64
    Jul 8, 2015
    7
    I'll keep this review short and straight to the point. The combat and is awesome but the team AI are brain dead, so it will be a pain in the ass later on the game. The story is the weakest feature in the game, i hated Oliver (the main protagonist) he was a whining **** ( he's basically like Shinji from Evangelion with more whining) there is nothing interesting about him and the main plotI'll keep this review short and straight to the point. The combat and is awesome but the team AI are brain dead, so it will be a pain in the ass later on the game. The story is the weakest feature in the game, i hated Oliver (the main protagonist) he was a whining **** ( he's basically like Shinji from Evangelion with more whining) there is nothing interesting about him and the main plot is decent but it's hard to care about the main characters because they are so predictable. The familiars are awesome and unique but it's always a pain in the ass when you want to add a new one to the team because it requires a lot and i mean A LOT of grinding that i ended up editing my save file to the max level so i can actually progress in the plot. The lore is interesting and the world is so gorgeous there are a lot of fun side quests that are actually rewarding, completing side quest will add a new mechanic every time like jumping for example. The soundtrack is simply flawless. Overall this is one of the best JRPGs to date but it has a lot of issues that held it back from being in my top 10. This game is on sale most of the time in the PSN, for the price of $9 it's a steal.… Expand
  25. XxSkye07xX
    Apr 28, 2018
    7
    An amazing light hearted game with a great storyline and lovable characters. The battle system was OK, got a bit repetitive after a while mind (and not for the best). Loved the side quest system and bounty hunts, all in all it was a very solid game. Could have had some more traditional Studio Ghibli cut scenes however... and all in all, the thing that REALLY, REALLY let it down was it'sAn amazing light hearted game with a great storyline and lovable characters. The battle system was OK, got a bit repetitive after a while mind (and not for the best). Loved the side quest system and bounty hunts, all in all it was a very solid game. Could have had some more traditional Studio Ghibli cut scenes however... and all in all, the thing that REALLY, REALLY let it down was it's abysmal ending. Extremely anti-climatic and very disappointing. After putting 100+ hours into this game, I was hoping for a heartfelt, wonderful ending to this fantastic story but it seemed to end without finishing fully. I would have gladly given this game a solid 9/10 but the ending really was pathetic.… Expand
  26. Cyber_Angel
    May 16, 2020
    6
    Beautiful, great music and art, interesting story, but dull, repetitive and challenging combat mar it for me. Such a shame.
  27. skeith
    Jan 25, 2015
    6
    I have finished the game and I somehow do not get the hype of this game, I think this game is really mediocre.

    The story is boring for me, cliche. The battle system is boring, you just keep leveling up and then keep smashing the attack button. Uninteresting characters, except for Mr. Drippy, that is the only one I liked in the game. The game has its upside though, beautiful and peaceful    I have finished the game and I somehow do not get the hype of this game, I think this game is really mediocre.

    The story is boring for me, cliche. The battle system is boring, you just keep leveling up and then keep smashing the attack button. Uninteresting characters, except for Mr. Drippy, that is the only one I liked in the game. The game has its upside though, beautiful and peaceful world, great soundtrack, alot of exploration and that is a must for JRPG. In conlcusion, I think this is a game for JRPG fans, if you are it is a must buy.    … Expand
  28. Carlitoxic
    Jun 13, 2014
    6
    Ni no kuni es un buen RPG con unos valores altos de producción. Como en algunas películas del estudio Ghibli, peca de tener tramas sosas que son sólo un conducto para mostrar la belleza de la pincelada y el arte visual de este equipo. La trama se me antoja muy infantil, hasta el punto de perder el interés. Y lo mismo ocurre con los combates y los mini pokemons que usamos para pelear.Ni no kuni es un buen RPG con unos valores altos de producción. Como en algunas películas del estudio Ghibli, peca de tener tramas sosas que son sólo un conducto para mostrar la belleza de la pincelada y el arte visual de este equipo. La trama se me antoja muy infantil, hasta el punto de perder el interés. Y lo mismo ocurre con los combates y los mini pokemons que usamos para pelear. Termina siendo todo un poco ñoño. Es una pena que el estudio no haya elegido un estilo más parecido al de la Princesa Mononoke por ejemplo, porque estaríamos hablando seguramente de un RPG épico.… Expand
  29. LilD
    Mar 1, 2014
    6
    By all appearances, I should love this game. It has an endearing personality, has elements of classic RPGs, and the combat is reminiscent of Pokemon. I really wanted to like this game. I rarely quit games, but after about 17 hours into the game, I cannot go further.

    I’ll begin with the obvious strength of Ni No Kuni. The overall presentation of the game is phenomenal. The menus are    By all appearances, I should love this game. It has an endearing personality, has elements of classic RPGs, and the combat is reminiscent of Pokemon. I really wanted to like this game. I rarely quit games, but after about 17 hours into the game, I cannot go further.

    I’ll begin with the obvious strength of Ni No Kuni. The overall presentation of the game is phenomenal. The menus are slick, the music is top-notch, and the writing is witty. The game does come off as childish, but I thought it added much to its own personality.

    However, once the smoke clears and the reality sets in, I started to realize many of the games shortcomings. First, the beginning of the game is excruciatingly boring. The beginning is riddled with cutscenes, hand-holding gameplay, basic combat, etc. It isn’t until about 6 hours in until the game begins to pick up.

    The game has two glaring flaws, the story and the combat. The story begins as a heartwarming tale of a son trying to save his mother. Aside from that, there isn’t much meat to the story. The characters aside from your trusty sidekick Drippy are extremely bland and one-dimensional. The combat borrows much from that of Pokemon, but lacks any of the fun strategy elements of the Pokemon games. There is a lot of just mashing the attack button during the wild battles. Many of the combat’s problems are more noticeable during boss battles. While it’s nice that not two boss battles are alike, about half of the boss battles are very difficult because the game randomly spikes the difficulty forcing you to level up your characters, which ruins much of the game’s continuity. The combat has too many menus, so you’ll find yourself getting pummeled while trying to find that one attack. Additionally, your party AI is unbelievably bad. They don’t defend. They always waste their MP immediately even after changing Tactics. This can make the battles incredibly frustrating.

    The game’s fun comes from sidequests. It is fun to explore and their Merit System is one of the best sidequest systems I’ve played. You can use your sidequest successes to purchase helpful aids that will help in the main storyline. While the sidequests are fun, the main story is incredibly shallow. There is a ton of handholding and a lot of unnecessary dialogue.

    Overall, I found its flaws too much to continue and Ni No Kuni is one of the most disappointing games I’ve played in awhile.    … Expand
  30. yesterdayatnoon
    Feb 9, 2013
    6
    This game is great fun and looks exceptional, but falls short on polish.

    The animated sequences are beautiful and the animation handled affectionately. Unfortunately, the frame rate is much too low to a point where it is noticeable even to those who don't normally care. The game play is interesting for a jrpg, they put in tons of puzzles and unique ways of interacting with the    This game is great fun and looks exceptional, but falls short on polish.

    The animated sequences are beautiful and the animation handled affectionately. Unfortunately, the frame rate is much too low to a point where it is noticeable even to those who don't normally care.

    The game play is interesting for a jrpg, they put in tons of puzzles and unique ways of interacting with the world. A host of spells give you seemingly limitless options for adventure. Unfortunately, you are prompted with the the problem, and the solution immediately each time. You aren't given the option to explore different solutions to a problem, when presented with a simple substitution code you are given the answer. The only exception to this so far seems to be a ghost boy who asks you to do what the rest of the game doesn't, think.

    The tutorial seems to go on for ever, but that is actually regular game play; twenty hours in and drippy is still double prompting for everything.

    There are also certain things that are just handled in an inefficient manner. You receive a prompt to chose what monster to summon at the beginning of each battle. Feeding your pets is time consuming and constant. Your wizard journal has information in it that is useful on another screen requiring a pen and paper rather than letting you save your spot in the book and flip back to it quickly. These are all generic usability concerns that weren't addressed. Having said all this mean stuff, the game is very similar in game play and visual style to Level 5's dragon warrior 8 and plays about as well. They adapt studio Ghibli's style as well as they did Akira Toriyama's. The dialogue and characters in the world are awkwardly funny and just the right amount of goofy and the hero being a nice kid rather than some sort of vile aberration is also a nice change.

    It would be nice if Level 5 could go through and iron out some kinks, but I doubt that will happen. Still a very nice game I'd recommend to anyone.    … Expand
  31. D-Traveler
    Mar 5, 2013
    6
    An exclusive PS3, I thought this is going to be great, I got it and I finished it and these are my conclussions: Sublime design with anime style, excellent story where you really get involved and a magic world to explore, the problems are the gameplay is repetitive after a while and there isnt much to do only those side quest that are the same only in different places example: find theAn exclusive PS3, I thought this is going to be great, I got it and I finished it and these are my conclussions: Sublime design with anime style, excellent story where you really get involved and a magic world to explore, the problems are the gameplay is repetitive after a while and there isnt much to do only those side quest that are the same only in different places example: find the journal in a volcano-passed and after that you must find a jpournal for the same man but now in a forest or a coast, the pokemon style is great but Level 5 could include morre variety in monsters, if you want to give it a try buy it at discount or used because Ni No Kuni isnt very replayable… Expand
  32. mforww
    Apr 18, 2013
    6
    A solid, but not outstanding game. Based on all of the reviews I had heard, I was expecting a lot when I picked this game up. Unfortunately, Ni no Kuni fails to compare favorably to any of the games referenced in other reviews like Final Fantasy, Pokemon, and Chrono Trigger. In fact, Ni no Kuni probably has more in common with RPG-lite games like Kingdom Hearts than it does with the JRPGA solid, but not outstanding game. Based on all of the reviews I had heard, I was expecting a lot when I picked this game up. Unfortunately, Ni no Kuni fails to compare favorably to any of the games referenced in other reviews like Final Fantasy, Pokemon, and Chrono Trigger. In fact, Ni no Kuni probably has more in common with RPG-lite games like Kingdom Hearts than it does with the JRPG genre that I've seen this game compared to, and that's been a major disappointment for me. I want to re-emphasize this point; THIS GAME IS NOT REALLY A JRPG. If you buy the game thinking it is, you WILL be disappointed. If you want a game that has a similar amount of charm, a better story, and just flat-out superior gameplay, I would recommend that you check out the oft-overlooked Skies of Arcadia. On the other hand, if you couldn't get enough of Kingdom Hearts, then I would say that you have to pick up this game.

    Here's what it all comes down to: if you thought Kingdom Hearts was the greatest thing since sliced bread, you're going to love this game. If real JRPG's like Final Fantasy, Skies of Arcadia, and Chrono Trigger are more your style, I would pass on this title.    … Expand
  33. LucyJFer
    May 27, 2014
    6
    Played it for a long hours and I've finally realised what's the problem with this game. Two words: target audience. This game's themes can be a great story for a kid - you know - bright colours, soft language, possibility of raising your own pokemons. That's absolutely not a bad thing but I became tired of it eventually, the bad thing is a difficulty level/lots of difficult text which willPlayed it for a long hours and I've finally realised what's the problem with this game. Two words: target audience. This game's themes can be a great story for a kid - you know - bright colours, soft language, possibility of raising your own pokemons. That's absolutely not a bad thing but I became tired of it eventually, the bad thing is a difficulty level/lots of difficult text which will be too challenging for a kid. Basically it's a family game - I'm sure I'll give it a go when I'll have kids so I can help it on difficulty spikes but if you've no kids and you're older than 12 years old I don't think there will be much to hold you in front of a screen for long. If you ask why I played for long if I don't like the game I can answer that I've forced myself to play to give it a chance. One day I'll update this review after playing with kids and we'll see if I've changed my mind.… Expand
  34. rscl
    Oct 23, 2017
    6
    To begin with the game had an appealing cartoony feel to it with warm characters and a good story. It however gets quite slow and uninteresting after awhile - not to mention the combat mechanics which gave me a headache.
  35. Vzhik
    Aug 22, 2018
    6
    Нормально.

    История очень тащит. Эта тема с помощью вернуться в нормальное состояние людям замечательная. Очень хорошо, что сделали историю личной - спасение мамы, пытаться продолжать жить, восстановление целостности людей.. Потому что без историй которые будут цеплять за живое, я например не смогу долго играть в такое. Так как бои наинуднейшие. Очень часто жал "сбежать", хоть и нашел    Нормально.

    История очень тащит. Эта тема с помощью вернуться в нормальное состояние людям замечательная. Очень хорошо, что сделали историю личной - спасение мамы, пытаться продолжать жить, восстановление целостности людей.. Потому что без историй которые будут цеплять за живое, я например не смогу долго играть в такое.
    Так как бои наинуднейшие. Очень часто жал "сбежать", хоть и нашел эту функцию во второй половине игры :-) Благо гринда не много. Всего пару раз по десятку боев пришлось повоевать, что б на несколько уровней подняться. В ледяной пещере и на финальном боссе. Закончил на 51 лвл.

    С большими перерывами, не спеша, нормально играется. Но в целом играть или нет, я хз. Если важны душевные истории, то да стоит. Если происходящее не цепляет, то наверно и можно пропустить. .    … Expand
  36. egoBorder
    Feb 3, 2022
    6
    This game has a wonderful design and presentation, so it's easy to WANT to overlook its flaws. However, the sad truth is that those flaws do add up to an unbearable weight and all but the most patient of players will likely make it to the end credits. The problem has to do with a shifting tone between a simplistic story and a quite high difficulty early on, as well as a prolonguedThis game has a wonderful design and presentation, so it's easy to WANT to overlook its flaws. However, the sad truth is that those flaws do add up to an unbearable weight and all but the most patient of players will likely make it to the end credits. The problem has to do with a shifting tone between a simplistic story and a quite high difficulty early on, as well as a prolongued "tutorial" opening that will make the first dozen or so hours a bit awful to climb.

    It might be wise to search out a beginner's guide that leaves out story spoilers, that could be a smart way to get the most out of this game.    … Expand
  37. Rumtots
    Sep 7, 2013
    5
    As a big Ghibli and old Final Fantasy fan I thought this game was something I needed in my life. The visuals are really well done from a technical point of view, but beyond that everything starts to fall apart. Perhaps I'm just old and jaded, but I thought the story was horribly clichéd, and a lot of the plot points seem to be loosely veiled game mechanics. The combat starts of fun, butAs a big Ghibli and old Final Fantasy fan I thought this game was something I needed in my life. The visuals are really well done from a technical point of view, but beyond that everything starts to fall apart. Perhaps I'm just old and jaded, but I thought the story was horribly clichéd, and a lot of the plot points seem to be loosely veiled game mechanics. The combat starts of fun, but quickly became repetitive. Some battles were difficult, but only as the game requires the player to try and navigate menus at speed to attack and block at the correct times. I made it to the sand world and then ran out of steam. Not for me.… Expand
  38. okamimiyazaki
    Jun 21, 2013
    5
    Sadly, very disappointed by this game. It's just not the fusion between DQ VIII and Miyazaki that I thought it would be. The music and art are phenomenal, but the gameplay is bland and repetitive. It becomes extremely predictable go to a major city to do something, find out that ruler of city has issues, do some chores, fix his issues, move on to the next city. It's the same thing over,Sadly, very disappointed by this game. It's just not the fusion between DQ VIII and Miyazaki that I thought it would be. The music and art are phenomenal, but the gameplay is bland and repetitive. It becomes extremely predictable go to a major city to do something, find out that ruler of city has issues, do some chores, fix his issues, move on to the next city. It's the same thing over, and over, and over again. Horrible design. The combat also gets old with the horrific UI and ability to only control one character. It didn't work well in Rogue Galaxy (despite how much I loved that game) and it was even worse here. I just couldn't push myself to finish the game, even though the plot was cute and interesting.… Expand
  39. Kenmei
    Feb 3, 2013
    5
    I gotta say, this game had me fooled. After reading all the wonderful reviews, I felt like it was a no brainer for me to purchase. After playing it for awhile, I can't help but feel like this is Dora the Explorer in a fantasy world. Everything is far too cute and cuddly for me. I feel like this game's setting is meant for children and I've got zero interest in pretty much everything goingI gotta say, this game had me fooled. After reading all the wonderful reviews, I felt like it was a no brainer for me to purchase. After playing it for awhile, I can't help but feel like this is Dora the Explorer in a fantasy world. Everything is far too cute and cuddly for me. I feel like this game's setting is meant for children and I've got zero interest in pretty much everything going on in the game. The battle system is decent but I was hoping for something more engaging seeing as how it was compared to the Tales series in the reviews. In the end I just feel like this game was meant more for children than adult gamers. It's not the JRPG revolution that people made it seem like and I'm actually very disappointed that a game with this kind of content matter is being seen as a serious, mature game meant for the real gamers out there. Goes to show that people are so desperate for another classic JRPG that they will say anything is the next FF VII.… Expand
  40. sivis
    Apr 14, 2018
    5
    I have started the game expecting 9/10 but it is actually 6/10 game AT BEST. **** and shallow battle system, **** of boring copypasted side quests, time wasting slow animations, story for kids 5+ and no character development. I am incredibly disappointed in this turd.
  41. alsec
    Nov 4, 2013
    5
    A strong heart felt introduction that wanes over time with it’s repetitious gameplay, lack of any challenge, and weak story telling left me dissatisfied.

    I came in excited about collecting, and creating a perfect monster team to battle my foes. I understood that there wasn’t any multiplayer, so I expected the real challenge to appear in the single player, that never came. I ended up    A strong heart felt introduction that wanes over time with it’s repetitious gameplay, lack of any challenge, and weak story telling left me dissatisfied.

    I came in excited about collecting, and creating a perfect monster team to battle my foes. I understood that there wasn’t any multiplayer, so I expected the real challenge to appear in the single player, that never came. I ended up putting little thought to my team as it was ridiculously easy to over level and wipe out anything in my path by sitting on my couch continuously hitting a single button while surfing on my iPhone.

    Well what about the story, it was co-developed by Studio Ghibli, the studio that delivered Princess Mononoke, and Spirited Away just to name a couple. The start of the game kept me hooked with it’s heart-felt story telling. As the game progressed, there was a noticeable difference in the drop of production quality. The animation cut scenes went from fully developed story telling, to character introductions with grunts. Most of the games story is dialogue read while characters perform poor animations.

    Throwing in a difficulty setting choice, having the story telling production quality consistent throughout the game would’ve made Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch a memorable experience.    … Expand
  42. TerrenceG
    May 2, 2013
    5
    I feel like this game has been grossly overrated by both fans and professionals alike. 100% of the game is hand-holding and unchallenging. Grind 4 or 5 levels at the start of the game and you'll breeze on through. Equipment is available, but the stat changes are so insignificant you can go without.
    Admittedly I haven't completed the game yet, but I've sunk about 20 hours into it, about 14    I feel like this game has been grossly overrated by both fans and professionals alike. 100% of the game is hand-holding and unchallenging. Grind 4 or 5 levels at the start of the game and you'll breeze on through. Equipment is available, but the stat changes are so insignificant you can go without.
    Admittedly I haven't completed the game yet, but I've sunk about 20 hours into it, about 14 of those hours being dull, repetitive fetch quests.
    Wouldn't recommend except to die-hard Studio Ghibli fans, the storyline is alright if you can deal with the boring gameplay.    … Expand
  43. barbaari
    Jul 2, 2013
    5
    After reading some reviews I was expecting an all new classic J-RPG in the vein of old Final Fantasy titles. At first it seemed that I was getting exactly that, but pretty soon the excitement faded away and left me disappointed.

    Music, world design, graphics etc. are all top notch Studio Ghibli quality. The battle system is pretty decent, although like with so many other RPGs, you    After reading some reviews I was expecting an all new classic J-RPG in the vein of old Final Fantasy titles. At first it seemed that I was getting exactly that, but pretty soon the excitement faded away and left me disappointed.

    Music, world design, graphics etc. are all top notch Studio Ghibli quality. The battle system is pretty decent, although like with so many other RPGs, you hardly ever have to do anything else than press X repeatedly (even in boss battles, but that might be just because I like level grinding a bit too much). Also the fact that you are able to catch practically every enemy in the game as your "familiar" (and then use them in battles) was too much for a perfectionist like me. There's simply way too much work in "catching them all".

    The main drawbacks for me were the story and the characters. Of course, with Studio Ghibli you are expected to dwell into the world of a child, but the childishness in this game just goes too far and doesn't offer any emotional depth back. The story is like a bad caricature of a typical RPG story, a boring stereotype at best. We have the young boy learning his magic, the evil wizard trying to destroy the world and even the collecting of crystals (this theme got old, if not with 1987's Final Fantasy I, at least with 1991's Final Fantasy IV). For me the story did not feel engaging, immersive or epic at all.

    The characters are also nothing but worn out stereotypes and as such, most of the time extremely irritating. The most annoying dude is this little fairy guy Drippy, whose job is to hang out with you throughout the game and give you the most basic, elementary advice that you can think of in situations where even a 5-year old child could easily figure out what to do without any fairy advice. I'm not sure if the game was designed for children who have never played an RPG before (that would explain it all), but I somehow doubt it, since I don't really see most of Studio Ghibli's products as something created for children, even if on the surface they seem childish.

    The whole game felt like one giant tutorial, where everything is constantly explained to me as if I was five.

    The game is also unnecessarily structured, lacking any "chaos". I might say that it's too player-friendly. This is obvious in regards to sidequests, which have been organized so that the player won't have any problems locating new sidequests. Every town has a board where the currently available sidequests are neatly listed. The sidequests themselves are too easy and linear and usually don't take any effort from the player. As a result, the world lacks mystery, when everything is laid out in front of you like this.

    In the end it's down to expectations, and in this case, mine didn't meet up with the game. A die-hard RPG fan will most certainly find this game enjoyable. A more casual player like me will have at best mixed feelings. The game is enjoyable, even very enjoyable, to some extent, but the dull story, the frustrating characters and dialogue, the never-ending tutorial-esque feeling and the fact that the game treats you like a five-year-old who has never played a video game or solved even the world's most obvious puzzle in his life are the big setbacks that turn this beautiful game into something very ordinary.

    I know some people have turned to Ni No Kuni expecting a comeback of the classic J-RPG. As such the game didn't work out for me at all, as the story lacked emotional depth that has been the best part of any J-RPG experience for me.

    Thumbs up to Studio Ghibli for a brace experiment, but Ni No Kuni is just too much of a stereotype to be truly enjoyable.    … Expand
  44. ShunOugarden
    Feb 19, 2020
    5
    Weird battle system : you choose action and let the character play... well, turn by turn will be more appropriate. Not a game for me after 15h finaly.
  45. Anb
    May 4, 2014
    5
    After beating the game i have mixed feelings - on one hand this game is classic jrpg with beautiful world and gorgeous music. On the other hand - the plot is so dumb, too childish and unoriginal there is no single point in the game where player may feel any intrigue - it is all clear what will happen next.
    There is also a big problem in a gameplay balance. I've beaten final boss on lvl40    After beating the game i have mixed feelings - on one hand this game is classic jrpg with beautiful world and gorgeous music. On the other hand - the plot is so dumb, too childish and unoriginal there is no single point in the game where player may feel any intrigue - it is all clear what will happen next.
    There is also a big problem in a gameplay balance. I've beaten final boss on lvl40 and it was not hard, actually every boss in the game wasn't hard to beat at all, even though i spent zero time grinding levels BUT, the regular mobs at the same time can drain all your mana in single battle, leaving you exausted for upcoming mobs in the dungeons. So, 90% of the time i've just ignored all the regular mobs and rushed through the bosses. And it is not very fun, if you are not willing to grind. On the other hand again, if you grind on regular mobs - the bosses become so damn easy to beat that it breaks all the fun even more.    … Expand
  46. Superwowzer
    Jul 20, 2014
    5
    I found this game remarkably tedious, even for a JRPG. Picture: running errands all day, only with Pokemon. Take my experience with a grain of salt, as I became too bored to finish the game. Many people love it, but I found the game lacking "wow" moments.
  47. Kentathon
    Feb 12, 2014
    4
    The worst AI to grace a video game in at least the past decade ruins what would otherwise be a fantastic story with memorable characters. The greatest challenge you'll face in this game involves getting your AI team-mates to co-operate and act according to the vague tactics you select for them. Boss battles come down to winning or losing based on your ability to outrun your own companionsThe worst AI to grace a video game in at least the past decade ruins what would otherwise be a fantastic story with memorable characters. The greatest challenge you'll face in this game involves getting your AI team-mates to co-operate and act according to the vague tactics you select for them. Boss battles come down to winning or losing based on your ability to outrun your own companions and get a golden orb before they can waste it.

    The only thing worse than a genuinely bad game, is what could easily have been an incredible game ruined by one core aspect of the gameplay.    … Expand
  48. Cell1e
    Mar 23, 2013
    4
    Very poorly made game. For those of us who enjoy playing for the story and on easy setting, you will be disappointed. It is very possible to end up in a boss battle with totally the wrong team and no way forward or back. This has happened to me twice, the first time on fairy island and I spent my last pennys feeding my buddies up to level them and outfitting them as best as I could themVery poorly made game. For those of us who enjoy playing for the story and on easy setting, you will be disappointed. It is very possible to end up in a boss battle with totally the wrong team and no way forward or back. This has happened to me twice, the first time on fairy island and I spent my last pennys feeding my buddies up to level them and outfitting them as best as I could them grinding on the limited selection there. Got through that mess, next problem, Hamlem and the big machine at the palace. Apparently you need a buddy with lightening skills to defeat this monster. I had never got one of them, I elected to play on 'easy' which stated I was 'playing for the story'. I didnt think I had to do my google research to such a deep degree for easy mode and for this mistake got a boss I could not defeat and no way forward. At this point my character or his healer still does not have teleport or resurrection skills. How is it a game can operate this far without your main having access to those parts of the map previously visited? I seriously regret buying this ill thought out piece of crap. How are people so amazed by such a trite story is beyond me, this place is filled with paid reviewers Im sure. Interested in buying this game? Okay make sure you like really complicated battle systems and MAKE sure to do your research before leaving an area. Easy DOES NOT mean easy. Prepare for cut scene type battles with lots of little cut scene interruptions. Oh and LOTS of pointless and meaningless little monster type things to battle. A lot of GRINDING!! There is some humour in this when you are not swearing at the stupid and many pointless boss battles that pop up all the time. Again rewards are chicken feed, helloooo whats in it for me??? There is no meaningful character customisation as you cannot control what your charater wears or looks like. I had the same wand for the last three days. Money is hard won and too easily spend on the huge party you end up having to try and manage. This is so overkill and on aspects I have no enjoyment in fixing. I believe the developers are fully exploiting peoples 'thats cute' meters to try and win themselves some points with the story and the characters but once involved in the game and seeing the very many flaws the 'cuteness' soon wears off. My warning...THINK twice or even three times before paying out for this game, be a very serious gamer with access to the internet to prepare yourself and your characters for the prolific annoying battles.… Expand
  49. NirvanicPanic
    Feb 12, 2013
    4
    Environment graphics are stellar; character models are typical cell-shaded CGI $HIT and story blows. Combat system is also a mess. Don't waste your money.
  50. jkersey
    Mar 9, 2015
    4
    The typical Miyazaki experience: Beautiful artwork, accompanied with the most annoying and bland characters, which pair with the story perfectly. I persisted through this game simply to watch more of the beautiful cut-scenes, but eventually I was simply unable to progress. You see, the combat system in this game is a lot like Pokemon. You summon a team of monsters, and choose from a listThe typical Miyazaki experience: Beautiful artwork, accompanied with the most annoying and bland characters, which pair with the story perfectly. I persisted through this game simply to watch more of the beautiful cut-scenes, but eventually I was simply unable to progress. You see, the combat system in this game is a lot like Pokemon. You summon a team of monsters, and choose from a list of different elemental and physical moves.
    But that's where the compliments end. Unlike Pokemon, you can only control one out of the three team members. Which means that the others will either waste their mp on magic attacks immediately, or charge in blindly to their death if you tell them not to use magic. This makes the combat COMPLETELY broken, since you're out of mp in 2-3 fights in the wild, or halfway through a boss fight.
    I actually quit on a boss fight that is simply unbeatable, and came to Metacritic to find that someone probably quit on the same boss. Here's an excerpt they wrote that sums it up perfectly: "The final straw came was whilst fighting a certain boss. And the things which really drive me crazy is when a Boss does a special move you HAVE to defend or evade otherwise you take massive damage, its just how the game is, the tutorial teaches you all about defending and it is vital to all boss battles. So image my joy when I defend the bosses special attacks to find that the other 2 computer controlled players NEVER defend or evade."

    Being a mainly RPG player, I never thought that I'd see the day when I quit an rpg. But Ni No Kuni made sure that there's a first time for everything.    … Expand
  51. pmasterfunk
    Sep 25, 2019
    4
    I know this game has been out for a long time, but I see it's being re-released, so I want to warn people about the frustrations that I've experienced that didn't seem to bother people with positive reviews.

    The ally AI. I'm not even talking Persona 3 AI, I'm talking may have as well given the controller to a 2 year-old bad AI. Your AI partners are so dumb, they cannot make a single    I know this game has been out for a long time, but I see it's being re-released, so I want to warn people about the frustrations that I've experienced that didn't seem to bother people with positive reviews.

    The ally AI.

    I'm not even talking Persona 3 AI, I'm talking may have as well given the controller to a 2 year-old bad AI. Your AI partners are so dumb, they cannot make a single reasonable in-battle decision. They cannot defend properly. They cannot chose spells properly. They cannot use their SP properly. They won't use items.

    What they will do, is stand in the way of enemy attacks, burn through all their SP pointlessly, use inefficient attacks and spells, and make sure to die at every single random battle, unless you are over-leveled. A lot of times, I just let my partners die so I could focus on winning battles with just one character, because that was just as efficient anyway.

    Obviously, the game is not without some merit: the graphics look good; the music is fun; the locations are cool. But if you want to "experience" this game, you may as well skip all the fighting and watch the cutscenes on Youtube.    … Expand
  52. KotBehemot69
    Nov 26, 2020
    4
    The game is BEAUTIFUL. The music is AMAZING and the plot is quite interesting. The game sounds like 10/10 until you enter some combat. This is where it all goes to the sewer. For some reason completely beyond me the developers decided to make this real time action battles. In consequence you have to frantically give commands, use items , control the movement of the characters and so on.The game is BEAUTIFUL. The music is AMAZING and the plot is quite interesting. The game sounds like 10/10 until you enter some combat. This is where it all goes to the sewer. For some reason completely beyond me the developers decided to make this real time action battles. In consequence you have to frantically give commands, use items , control the movement of the characters and so on. Was that all turn based it would be a gem. Why have you done it dev ?!?! Everything in this game is perfect. Except for battles. They are absolutely horrible. And unfortunately 80 % of this game is battles.… Expand
  53. HazeSpire
    Aug 6, 2013
    3
    Infantile is the best word to describe this game. I used to call myself a fan of the jRPG genre, but the last few games I played let me down (I'm looking at you FF XIII), so I was hoping for a great adventure when I picked up this title. Unfortunately it failed as well. The graphics may be nice, caring for your "Pokemons" is interesting, combat is also OK, but the rest.. The most importantInfantile is the best word to describe this game. I used to call myself a fan of the jRPG genre, but the last few games I played let me down (I'm looking at you FF XIII), so I was hoping for a great adventure when I picked up this title. Unfortunately it failed as well. The graphics may be nice, caring for your "Pokemons" is interesting, combat is also OK, but the rest.. The most important aspects of any RPG for me the story, the dialog, the characters they are all dull and bland. Ni No Kuni also has the Most. Infantile. Dialogs. Ever. This is a good game for kids, I am so disappointed. … Expand
  54. Gastel71
    May 6, 2013
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Horrible, horrible jrpg, really. Read Ironsheik and and Nugs187 reviews, they say almost everything it should be said about this game. There are other issues though, like for example how useless and boring is all the "familiar capture thing" (there are hundreds of them and levelling up a familiar takes ages and almost all of them start at a very low level and they are useless anyway since you can beat the game by using always the same couple of familiars over and over, like I did), how cliched the game is (ie. first you explore the overworld on foot, then you can use a ship and finally you can fly on a dragon...how original, isn't it?), how the environments are really bad (fully decorated rooms in jrpgs are a standard since the snes era I think...try to enter a "castle" in ni no kuni, do you know what you'll find? A big empty room with a throne in the middle, I'm not kidding) and I could go on for hours but honestly this game doesn't deserve the effort. Shame on the developers that just took advantage of Studio Ghibli's collaboration trying (and succeeding) to sell a sub-standard game disguised as a "work of art".

    P.S. All the above is valid if you are older than 10, while for little children, played with their parents, the game could be great.    … Expand
  55. DinoBeam
    Oct 23, 2021
    3
    The world this game creates makes you feel like you might just be on the adventure of a lifetime, and then it tears that all apart every way it can! I warn you about this game, and am amaze and appalled at the high ratings it keeps getting. The only way this can get high ratings is from underdog-identifying jrpg obsessed fans that refuse to see flaws because they use a mindless grind toThe world this game creates makes you feel like you might just be on the adventure of a lifetime, and then it tears that all apart every way it can! I warn you about this game, and am amaze and appalled at the high ratings it keeps getting. The only way this can get high ratings is from underdog-identifying jrpg obsessed fans that refuse to see flaws because they use a mindless grind to cope with reality.

    First of all, that beautiful, unique, aesthetic world is constantly ruined with puns. The spell to open doors is Open-says-a-me! HAHHAHAHAHAHA. WOW SO FUNNY! Imagine if Bloodborne or Skyrim ruined it's aesthetic like this. Wow this cave is called "Bandits think they aren't about to get killed Cave!" HAHAHAHAHA. The only reason this isn't brought up is because the large majority of jrpg fans are extremely trashy. Skip this Game

    Oh before I started writing this, when I was giving the game a final chance, the game crashed when I was saving, loosing loads of mindless-grindy progress. Just putting this here in case you were thinking this was too negative and wouldn't read all this. Skip this Game.

    You are from the normal Earth world and go to a fantasy style world. You meet a cute companion and bring her back to your world. How does she react???? SHE DOESN'T REACT AT ALL. Skip this Game.

    You have to collect milk from the milk fountains in town. You go to one only to find it isn't the one the game decided you should go to, the prompt just doesn't show up at all, you had to somehow predict that the developers wanted you to only collect milk from a certain fountain even though that isn't part of the story or quest at all. Skip this Game.

    How is the grind? If you have the Remastered or preordered the original, then you have Griffy and the grind is grindy. If not, then you have to constantly consume expensive health and mana potions all the time. Most of the Pokémon are completely weak and useless. [oh, and this is true on Easy difficulty] Skip this Game.

    Did a quest, it isn't completed because it's glitched. Skip this Game!

    You thought the art style was good? Wait until you see the most appallingly ugly talking tree design you have ever seen or imagined. Skip this Game!

    What a severe disappointment.    … Expand
  56. Mahmood_Yusuf
    Jul 29, 2023
    3
    I'm giving it 3 just for some difficulty with the final boss. Apart from that, one of the worst hyped game of all time.
  57. DingerDonger
    Jun 27, 2020
    3
    This game could have been great. The art style is cute, the music is great, and the characters are memorable. This entire game is ruined by the horrid combat system. ARPGs really need good mechanics to stick out, and this game does not have them. Your companions are controlled by one of the dumbest AIs in video game history, and do almost nothing to help you in battle. The normalThis game could have been great. The art style is cute, the music is great, and the characters are memorable. This entire game is ruined by the horrid combat system. ARPGs really need good mechanics to stick out, and this game does not have them. Your companions are controlled by one of the dumbest AIs in video game history, and do almost nothing to help you in battle. The normal encounters are really nothing special; just spam attack and win. The boss fights are when things go down the drain. Many boss fights you are forced to run in circles while your AI hopefully does something to help you. That is, of course, if they don't die early in the fight because they never defend or evade. Sometimes the games with the most potential are ruined by one or two glaring flaws, and this is one of those games. I'd really like to give it a better score, but I can't justify it purely because of the combat. You wouldn't give a meatball sub a very high score if the meatballs were replaced with horse turds, regardless of how good the sauce or the bread was. Ni No Kuni is a meatball sub with horse turds for meatballs.… Expand
  58. Ironsheik
    Jan 30, 2013
    2
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This is a less than mediocre game, it should have been a movie.

    It starts out good, great voice acting, great art, great setting.

    But within 5 hours it evolves into the most boring confusing and bugged jRPG I've ever played

    The main story is about 40~ hours, the plot is about 3~ of those hours, and the rest is filler fetch quests.
    Half of the spells in the game are one time use, and the other half are not used at all.

    To catch the familiars in the game, it is all random number generated, and usually requires 1-2 hours just to catch a regular familiar, and to catch the rare ones can require a 5+ hour investment.

    The AI is atrocious, they will burn their MP to 0 if you let them cast spells, and if you don't let them cast spells they die due to not healing.
    You get two macros regarding AI, All-out-defense and All-Out-Offense.

    All out defense is usually them bringing out the worst familiar to defend with, getting hit hard and dying, and they also never attack during this phase. All-out-attack is them bringing out the worst familiar to attack with and doing zero damage.

    In specific there is a boss fight with a magic-weak boss, the AI will never use spells and continually dink the boss for 2-5 damage a hit.

    The game holds your hand tutorial wise throughout, even the last boss has a mid-battle tutorial telling you to dodge. I understand this is an E game, but what happened to simply figuring things out?
    You get a spell called bridge, which by its' namesake, creates a bridge. This is great, I can cross chasms and canyons with ease! But drippy (The walking tutorial) literally spells out when to use the spell. Also there are ledges that make it apparent a bridge would go here. They may as well just removed the spell entirely and just put the bridge there.

    Also there is a feature which you must remove emotions from people and give them to those lacking. At first I think cool, healing people and figuring out who has what and help others! BUT, in literally EVERY occasion you need to do this, the game HIGHLIGHTS the emotion they have, and the emotion they need. What is the point? Just remove this entirely if the game is going to hold your hand every time. If one had to read the text and figure out what they had it'd be okay.

    There are also huge overlooks with the gameplay. When performing alchemy you can mix-and-match items to create new ones, or use a formula, cool! But when you do find a formula thru mixing, IT DOESN'T ADD IT TO THE FORMULA LIST. An extreme annoyance. Also the path finding when attacking is atrocious, during one boss fight you spend the entire attack phase running around the monster who is continually turning, and you never get an attack in.

    As said earlier, the game has 2-3 hours of full voice acting, but as you progress, it literally turns to about a 50:1 text to spoken ratio.
    This causes all character development to cease, and you lose immersion in the story.
    It's a good thing because the story jumps the shark halfway through, and starts contradicting itself and adding red herring plotlines every 5 minutes. It also never comes back to correct the plotholes, and the story is just utter trash. The characters are extremely forgetful. Oliver the protagonist starts out by losing his mother, and is fighting to save her. I was taken by this and loved it, but soon you get the other two main characters, who are about as entertaining as Dane Cook to someone with an IQ over 100.

    The NPC who comes to save everyone in the end has literally no reason for existing, and is never explained. What is explained, is that this character (Pea) is brought to us by Gallus (The Wizard King). yet Gallus is an imaginary being who was thought up by Pea. I can't make this up. It's that bad.

    The only thing that kept me playing was the art style.

    Only giant fans of Level-5 and ghibli need play this, otherwise avoid at all costs if you are a JRPG fan. level-5 has released far superior titles to this.    … Expand
  59. SportsareCrap
    Jun 26, 2016
    2
    My Review of Ni No Kuni Remake PS3
    Gameplay: 2/10
    Fun: 0/10
    Difficulty: BS
    XP: Takes Forever Forever
    Forced Level: 100 Beat Games on Easy Difficulty Setting
    Difficulty Setting: Are not Truthful Easy is Hard, Normal is Very Hard
    Review: 2/10
    Grade: F
    Worst JRPG Ever of all Time
  60. phantajisto
    Aug 14, 2015
    1
    I hated the random encounters and clunky combat system so much that I found this game unplayable. I'm not willing to spend 40+ hours of my life needlessly grinding just to advance the plot and see the next location. Even as a Ghibli fan I couldn't get on with this game. Maybe JRPGs just aren't for me...
  61. JKinsley
    Apr 10, 2013
    1
    I just flat out did not have fun playing this game. I couldn't identify with the characters and I found them to ineffectual and actively annoying. The cutscenes couldn't decide if they wanted to be anime, rendered, or little text boxes that you can't skip. The game felt like it needed to hold my hand and keep key gameplay mechanics away from me. Combat was menu driven and real time. ThereI just flat out did not have fun playing this game. I couldn't identify with the characters and I found them to ineffectual and actively annoying. The cutscenes couldn't decide if they wanted to be anime, rendered, or little text boxes that you can't skip. The game felt like it needed to hold my hand and keep key gameplay mechanics away from me. Combat was menu driven and real time. There is no attack button, no defend button, just running and menus. Minions don't tank for you. While the music was well done, nothing else was. For an hour of gameplay, I was interrupted with 3 hours of cutscenes and drivel. The constant interruptions just caused me to take the game out and return it.… Expand
  62. BlockRockinBeat
    Feb 11, 2014
    1
    I have just signed up to Metacritic to say my bit on this game. So i can watch most types of movies, play games etc and mostly ignore preconceptions based on others opinions, but i can honestly say, i feel like i was a child playing game. All the way from having my hand held through even the most simplest tasks, the awful linear way the gameplay is formulated to the boring, slightlyI have just signed up to Metacritic to say my bit on this game. So i can watch most types of movies, play games etc and mostly ignore preconceptions based on others opinions, but i can honestly say, i feel like i was a child playing game. All the way from having my hand held through even the most simplest tasks, the awful linear way the gameplay is formulated to the boring, slightly (well, mostly) frustrating battle system. I read a fair amount of reviews from all you people and generally accepted that it's not for everyone and some are far more particular about what they are looking for in a game. I know, or even care, little for some of the things that piss people off in games. but i feel cheated by this one. Nothing was AMAZING to me. It looks good, the music is nice, the constant text boxes, the slow interactions got to me. I feel better about writing this now, haha. I'm going to delete this game from my memory and hard drive and go back to FFX.… Expand
  63. ejoseph
    Feb 15, 2015
    1
    good story line i guess. battle mechanics took me out of the game. i just couldn't get into the combat system. good combat is essential for any rpg, and i didn't have any desire to level up since the combat system was uninteresting. do your research before buying a game. i could see how this game might appeal to people just starting to get into rpgs.
  64. HunterzMoon
    Feb 18, 2013
    0
    An amazing game ruined by a horrific battle system.
    First off when you battle there are 2 computer controlled companions which help you out. Now, you can control them individually by freely switching back and forth between them and your main character or just let them do their own thing. But seeing as the game isn't turn based and the A.I is terrible I have a few BIG issues which kill the    An amazing game ruined by a horrific battle system.
    First off when you battle there are 2 computer controlled companions which help you out. Now, you can control them individually by freely switching back and forth between them and your main character or just let them do their own thing. But seeing as the game isn't turn based and the A.I is terrible I have a few BIG issues which kill the game for me (I have now stopped playing after 15 hours). Fighting normal battles isn't really an issue as just spamming the attack button seems to work pretty well. There isn't the tactical aspect i was hoping for like with turn based battles.
    The final straw came was whilst fighting a certain boss. And the things which really drive me crazy is when a Boss does a special move you HAVE to defend or evade otherwise you take massive damage, its just how the game is, the tutorial teaches you all about defending and it is vital to all boss battles. So image my joy when I defend the bosses special attacks to find that the other 2 computer controlled players NEVER defend or evade. So i'm constantly having to keep healing them which soon depletes your magic. An even bigger problem is when Ester, the female AI, runs out of MP instead of using a captured Familiar (aka Pokemon) to fight, she just runs up to the boss and starts attacking with her harp doing a really useful 1 damage per attack, all the while getting smashed by the boss.
    Its a real big shame. The graphics, sound, and different things to do are brilliant, i was really enjoying this game. There's so much to do, tons of side quests, you can make you own items, weapons, armour etc. Apparently there's a casino and a battle arena and all sorts of other stuff to do and i was really looking forward to it. If this game had turn-based battles like Final Fantasy 7, it may have possibly become my favourite RPG to date. I just hope they fire whoever it was who decided to have computer controlled team mates, and make a sequel with turn-based battles because this real time idea was a massive FAIL. I'm certain alot of these reviews where written after just a few hours of gameplay, and if I had written a review after just a few hours I would have also given a 9 or 10, the battle system at first is fine because you don't have any stupid A.I team mates to ruin your day. But once you have the A.I on your team that all changes. I suggest you have a read through of the critic reviews, but don't read the paid for 90-100 scores. Read up on the fighting in the "mixed" reviews for more info on the poor battle system. Good luck, if you can see past the shocking battle system then you're in for a treat! Why, oh why, isn't there a proper Pokemon game in this style on a console! Oh and one more thing, when your captured familiars (aka Pokemon) take damage your character takes damage, that's right they share the same HP and MP which also sucks big time!    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

14
#14 Best PS3 Game of 2013
8
#8 Most Discussed PS3 Game of 2013
4
#4 Most Shared PS3 Game of 2013

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
85

Generally favorable reviews - based on 89 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 81 out of 89
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 89
  3. Negative: 0 out of 89
  1. Post Arcade (National Post)
    May 6, 2013
    80
    Ni No Kuni offers players an experience unlike almost any other RPG. At once, you are transported back to the innocence of a childhood filled with monsters, magic, and mysticism; but at the same time you find yourself immersed in an emotional story about a protagonist dealing with his innermost emotions.
    Read full review
  2. RPG Fan
    Apr 11, 2013
    92
    The entertaining battles and the resolutions of plot threads as the game progressed toward the final credits were worth paying the cost of a slow start to the gameplay. This is a game that we'll be talking about for years to come, and I'm happy to have played it.
    Read full review
  3. Armchair Empire
    Apr 1, 2013
    85
    Despite the delayed journey to the West, Ni No Kuni is definitely a title you should at least give a chance. There is a demo up on PSN that you can go ahead and download, and once you get used to the combat system and mechanics of the game, you’ll be treated to an adventure like no other.
    Read full review
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