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
Buy Now
Buy on

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. 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
  2. ptnull
    Feb 25, 2013
    8
    I am registering just to review this game, it's simply one of the best games I ever played. The graphics, sound, music, story, gameplay, learning curve... everything fits perfectly.
    I wasn't so addicted to a game for a long time, makes me feel the essence and joy of good JRPG gaming since I started play RPGs on old consoles. One advise: you will never know how good it is if you just try    I am registering just to review this game, it's simply one of the best games I ever played. The graphics, sound, music, story, gameplay, learning curve... everything fits perfectly.
    I wasn't so addicted to a game for a long time, makes me feel the essence and joy of good JRPG gaming since I started play RPGs on old consoles. One advise: you will never know how good it is if you just try the demo...    … Expand
  3. CrimsonGamer
    Feb 26, 2013
    10
    Ok well im going to start this off my saying i love this game, from the art, the game-play, the creatures also known as "familiars", cut scenes, exploration just everything! Ill make this very easy to read for those looking to find all the information they need to know about the game, the good and the bad. ART GRAPHICS
    We will start with the games looks, now when it comes to the anime    Ok well im going to start this off my saying i love this game, from the art, the game-play, the creatures also known as "familiars", cut scenes, exploration just everything! Ill make this very easy to read for those looking to find all the information they need to know about the game, the good and the bad. ART GRAPHICS
    We will start with the games looks, now when it comes to the anime cut scenes they are amazing, lots of detail and amazing looking just like all of Studio Ghiblis work. Now the game cut scenes that are far more common are done just like the games graphics which are good for sceneory but only moderate for character design. Now dont get me wrong there not bad, but the detail is at times just not there. Overall id give the graphics side of this game a solid 9 out of 10 because even though the detail can lack on character models they are designed in a way that makes that lack of detail work for them. EXPLORATION BATTLES
    Ok this world is beautiful, and as fun as it is to look at it, it is even more fun to run around and explore it. There are hidden treasures that look like shiny spots on the ground all over and battles are wherever you look (which to me is good). Now as you are running around admiring this gorgeous world you will find a massive amount of monsters/familiars roaming around and each one is itching for a fight. Now get ready because the battles in this game are going to bring those dreams of pokemon battles to life. Now what i mean by this is that you get these monsters called familiars, and these guys are cool, now lets break this down to make it easy to understand. FIRST Each familiar has 4 evolution's or metamorphosis. You have your basic or starting form, then you have a middle evolution. Now for your final form you actually get to pick one of two different evolution's, each on is powerful and has its own unique perks. There are just over a hundred familiars and with each one having 4 forms there is allot of potential for team building (plus you can have 2 of your favorite familiars on your team looking two different ways). SECOND The battle system!!!!! it is amazing, it brings a childhood fantasy to life...pokemon battles. You use your familiar like a pokemon but instead of it being a turn based system you will run around, dodge, defend and use your skills on the move in a small open roam battle zone. I always dreamed of the pokemon games making the battles just like the show and this game finally brings that dream to life. It is fun, fast and every familiar makes that fights a different experience. (also look for golden orbs that drop in battle for a very epic surprise)

    STORY QUESTS

    This story is heartbreaking, emotional, fun, everything you would expect from a true JRPG that gave it its all. I dont want to spoil anything for you so ill be general about this, something tragic happens that opens your character up to a new world. In this world you learn how to be a wizard and control familiars all in a grand adventure to save both your world and this fantastic fantasy world you find. The story is built in a way that truly pulls you in and makes you want to fight for the next cut scene or piece of story. Now the side quest dont really have that same pull but there still fun. Yes they are normally a "kill this" or "find this" kinda mission but they are normally fun and all tie back to a stamp system that allows you to buy upgrades the more you help people and do side quests. It really only gets boring if you let it. SUM UP!!!!!

    Ok so ive covered most the basics of the game and alot of the things others complain about, dont let negative reviews discourage you from getting this game, ive personally got the 40$ book for it and i love it, the familiar information it gives is soooo much fun and helpfull and none of the guide parts really spoil anything so its an amazing book (also with a really amazing hard cover) So in my personal opinion if you like JRPGs or just want to make your pokemon battle dreams like mine come true pick this game up right away.    … Expand
  4. funkmistress
    Mar 16, 2013
    9
    I bought this game and beat it in a total playtime of around 50 hours. It's one of those games that you cannot put down. I frequently found myself playing with the "Gotta catch em' all," mentality towards familiars, which keeps you grinding out quests.
    I wouldn't say it's an especially difficult game, but there are a few fights which pose challenge in normal mode. The controls are tight    I bought this game and beat it in a total playtime of around 50 hours. It's one of those games that you cannot put down. I frequently found myself playing with the "Gotta catch em' all," mentality towards familiars, which keeps you grinding out quests.
    I wouldn't say it's an especially difficult game, but there are a few fights which pose challenge in normal mode. The controls are tight and battles are very fun.
    It's a great game to play if you like RPG's.    … Expand
  5. stitchmouth
    Mar 16, 2013
    10
    This is the RPG I've been waiting ages to sink my teeth into. Great story, gorgeously rendered landscape with a fully explorable world map, and fun things for you to go back to once you've finished up the main story. The characters in this game are all memorable, even if one of two of them run the risk of being slightly two dimensional. You capture monsters and evolve them to assist youThis is the RPG I've been waiting ages to sink my teeth into. Great story, gorgeously rendered landscape with a fully explorable world map, and fun things for you to go back to once you've finished up the main story. The characters in this game are all memorable, even if one of two of them run the risk of being slightly two dimensional. You capture monsters and evolve them to assist you in battle, and there is a HUGE variety of them. Sick of other games that give you auto-combat, and maybe 10 total items per game? Yes, this will remind you of 'the good old days'. I would easily call this the best console RPG in years.… Expand
  6. olik
    Apr 25, 2013
    10
    I picked up this game so that I could play it with my 5 year old boy. He generally does the walking around and enjoys all the different creatures we meet and "collect", and I do the fights.
    Being brought up on Final Fantasy and games like that, this game was easy to pick up and start playing. Even after beating the game, you actually open up a whole new world of things to do and the game    I picked up this game so that I could play it with my 5 year old boy. He generally does the walking around and enjoys all the different creatures we meet and "collect", and I do the fights.
    Being brought up on Final Fantasy and games like that, this game was easy to pick up and start playing. Even after beating the game, you actually open up a whole new world of things to do and the game has many more hours of life in it.
    We are over 100 hours in and it has been an enjoyable journey and we still haven't finished all the quests. The World is not too big to be overwhelming. The battles can sometimes be tough, but with the right items in your backpack or your familiars levelled to a good level, you should be ok.
    Sometimes you have to do a little grinding to level up your team, but it is very minimal, or you do it around some of the quests.
    Also some quests you might get stuck on when you are looking for a item, or a hidden forest, but that is where the internet helps because sometimes it is pretty obscure. I also recommend looking on the internet how to learn to play one of the card games to get lots of casino money it comes in handy.
    Definitely recommended, but remember to warn your child that the mother in the game is going to die and that you are going to try and do what you can to help her (no spoiler required as it is in the games description).
    So overall, the best game I have played this year and my son has enjoyed it too. "Is it the weekend Daddy? Can we play Ni No Kuni?" "Ask your mother if we are allowed" :)
    Looking forward to a sequel which might be in the pipeline.    … Expand
  7. MrVoid
    May 5, 2013
    10
    I tend to avoid JRPGs nowadays because they tend to be boring and very tedious. This wonderful game changes that completely. Very solid writing, the best graphics this generation and great gameplay does all the difference.
  8. DRUsweatpants
    Jun 4, 2014
    9
    If you're into time consuming JRPGs this game is right up your alley. The world map is huge (although it takes a good amount of time to get the fast travel spell). There is so much to see and do, and the combat system is really unique. For PS3 owners who love a huge game to dig their teeth into, Ni No Kuni is a must-have.
  9. theecakee
    Jun 22, 2014
    9
    Despite the controversy with Namco and the wizards edition scandal, and having to wait two years for a proper English port of the game, Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch arrives! The game came out early in 2013, finally got the time to actually sit down and put in 50 hours of time to beat the game, which is standard at this point for JRPGs. Ni No Kuni has a mixture of emotions fromDespite the controversy with Namco and the wizards edition scandal, and having to wait two years for a proper English port of the game, Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch arrives! The game came out early in 2013, finally got the time to actually sit down and put in 50 hours of time to beat the game, which is standard at this point for JRPGs. Ni No Kuni has a mixture of emotions from gamers. Seems to vary between people loving the game naming it one of the best JRPGs they have ever played, or others just thinking it is an okay game. Haven’t come across anyone who passionately despises the game yet though.

    Ni No Kuni is based on a story where a young lad name Oliver comes across a pretty serious tragedy that changes his life. Oliver then goes to another world in which he hopes to reverse the tragedy that has happened in his world there, while also helping this other world with the perils it is going through. Pretty standard for JRPGs if you ask me, boy has to save the world from big bad evil and spoiler alert, he needs to have some big bad weapon to do it. However, there isn’t anything wrong with staying with the standards set of blueprints of typical JRPGs, and in fact Ni No Kuni’s story is one of thee best if not thee best part of the game. The story is a story we can all relate to, and may even give some nostalgic memories of childhood with dare I use the word “cute”. Despite Ni No Kuni being cute, it is no kids game. In fact, the story is actually rather dark and sinister. In addition, the story has some interesting twists, some that I didn’t really fully suspect until right before the end. The side stories of the various side characters “Drippy, Swaine, and Esther” are also very well written, and there are even more side stories than that! The voice acting dialog and writing of the game are top-notch, and at points funny with characters like Drippy and Swaine.

    So the story is good, it should be something you expect from a solid RPG honestly. How about the gameplay? It is very similar, if not an extensive rip off of Pokemon. You catch familiars “Pokemon” train them and evolve them with large amounts of sweets and then fight with them. It is quite surprising that all my familiars did not end up with type two diabetes by the end of the game, because holy **** eating 10 sundaes, chocolate bars, ice creams, pies, or cakes will never end well. Not to mention, the whole concept of leveling your characters with these damn sweets is awfully tedious and time-consuming to give them the treats one by one. Course, you could just give them the sweets that have more fullness, but I have other things to buy then just making these sweets to evolve them. It got to a point where I just stopped evolving them because the whole task just got so cumbersome and took forever. Despite barely evolving them, the game was very easy. I only had some troubles with about one to three of the regular bosses, and then had quite some trouble with the very last boss. Other than that, I played the entire game on normal and had no problems doing much of anything. About half way through the game, you get a spell called travel that makes matters only worst for the games difficulty. Essentially, travel is the fast travel of Ni No Kuni. Once I got travel, the game went so much faster, which was something it didn’t need because it was pretty damn easy already. Others have claimed they never had enough MP or always ran out, and for some reason caffeine must be scarce because Coffee costs a fortune at 1,000G or so eventually. I never really used the spells, and still had no problem. The one I did was Oliver’s healing touch, and that only took 3 MP per cast. There is a whole thought out system of weaknesses and strategy and all set for you, but didn’t use any of it as I didn’t need to. Many people I have seen complain about the battle system and the battle UI. I had no problem with it, and quite frankly liked the battle UI.

    The second complaint I had with the game was the whole concept of errands. All the errands and such are repetitive, to the point where they use the same characters. Most of them involve finding someone with a broken heart and then mending their heart. I don’t really want to explain the whole concept of the hearts, but essentially it is a “take this from this person to this person” type of situation. At first, they had some variety in Ding Dong Dell with errands, and then post-completion they had the variety they needed during the game all along! Errands however, are still worth doing despite being awfully linear and boring, as they remove the grind from the game “for the most part, I still did some grinding at the end”, give you the majority of your funds, and supply you with neat bonus attributes by turning in your merit cards you earn from doing errands for a reward of attributes that may boost the xp gained per battle to boost the loot of battles and much more.    … Expand
  10. Bedgypooks
    Jun 24, 2014
    9
    I picked up this game just on a hope that LEVEL 5 was back to making good games and that Studio Ghibli's involvement was a blessing. I was completely correct.

    As soon as I started playing and watching the cutscenes I noticed the Ghibli flare. Everything about it screamed Ghibli from the art style to the voice acting, but I didn't think that could keep up in the gameplay. Boy did it    I picked up this game just on a hope that LEVEL 5 was back to making good games and that Studio Ghibli's involvement was a blessing. I was completely correct.

    As soon as I started playing and watching the cutscenes I noticed the Ghibli flare. Everything about it screamed Ghibli from the art style to the voice acting, but I didn't think that could keep up in the gameplay. Boy did it ever, everything from the buildings to the ground to the sky looks hand drawn and onderful. Especially when you are exploring the hometown and cities throughout the game.

    Once I delved into gameplay I noticed it was similar to Pokemon, but an added twist. It was more complex to me in a way, but also very relaxing. I spent almost a hundred hours playing this game and not for one second did it feel repetitive or boring.

    The story is pretty unique, I mean the characters are very set and standard but the way it unfolds is entirely it's own. This game was never too hard either, there was only one time I felt a little baffled as to why I couldn't beat someone and that was one of the hardest enemies in the game.

    The game doesn't feel childish either, just like Ghibli films, it evokes a sense of wonder and awe. I really don't know what else to say about this game, the gameplay, style, atmosphere, art, story, characters are all just great! It reminds me of my childhood as well, which is extremely inviting because not many things can. Buy this if you are open to new concepts, but in at the same time familiar that are set in a wonderful world!    … Expand
  11. Kai82
    Sep 9, 2014
    9
    A really awesome game. It looks like it is made for children but it is not. The game deals with some sad and depressing issues. Overall the whole game / game world is created with a lot of love and care. The story is engaging and the characters are well written with clear and believable motivations. I wished that Square Enix put the same amount of care in their games. Also there are lot ofA really awesome game. It looks like it is made for children but it is not. The game deals with some sad and depressing issues. Overall the whole game / game world is created with a lot of love and care. The story is engaging and the characters are well written with clear and believable motivations. I wished that Square Enix put the same amount of care in their games. Also there are lot of side quests / optional activities which gave me a total playtime of 60 hours. It is slightly below 10/10 but it is a must have game for PS 3.… Expand
  12. 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
  13. 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.
  14. 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
  15. 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
  16. 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
  17. 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
  18. awdrifter
    Feb 16, 2013
    8
    I just beat the main story. It took me about 40 hours. The music is great, the art style is beautiful. The story is simple but it's charming in a way. It's refreshing to see an epic save the world journey without all the convoluted storyline. Now that is not to say the game doesn't have it's problems, I have three major problems that really bothered me during my time with the game. TheI just beat the main story. It took me about 40 hours. The music is great, the art style is beautiful. The story is simple but it's charming in a way. It's refreshing to see an epic save the world journey without all the convoluted storyline. Now that is not to say the game doesn't have it's problems, I have three major problems that really bothered me during my time with the game. The combat doesn't pause while you're selecting an action using the D-pad. It causes you to take damage during action selection. You can get around this by using your right hand to select stuff on the D-pad while dodging enemy attacks with your left thumb, I eventually got used to this. Second issue is the grinding required to get through the main story. I was playing this blind but I had to grind 2-3 hours on the overworld to advance the story after each major boss battle. So I really suggest googling "how to grind toko in Ni No Kuni", it'll cut the grinding time in half, it makes the game much more enjoyable. The last complain is a design issue. For most of the game, they designed the save points in the dungeons very well, and after each boss fight you can go to your town of choice to resupply, but after a certain very difficult boss fight near the end, you aren't given a chance to resupply anywhere else but Ding Dong Dell (your starting city with crap supplies), it made the next three boss fights much more difficult that it has to be. Now that might makes the game sound like it's bad, but it's really not. If you take these archaic design choices in mind when playing, and avoid these pitfalls, this game could easily be 8.5 or higher for you. I would definitely recommend this game for JRPG fans.… Expand
  19. 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...
  20. 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
  21. 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
  22. 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.
  23. 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
  24. 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
  25. 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
  26. DDayGold
    Feb 5, 2013
    8
    The story is good even tho childish and the game play works well. The difficulty rises as you get near the end of the game. My only beef is the makers seem to change focus near the end of the game.
  27. vileguy
    Feb 6, 2013
    8
    Anyone who would give this a 10 is ignoring some serious flaws. The game has great audio and visuals, the story is okay, and it's a lot of fun, but some of the gameplay elements are seriously lacking in fun, and some of the stages of the game suffer from lack of consideration. Side quests in the game are more of an optional chore than anything else and never add anything meaningful to theAnyone who would give this a 10 is ignoring some serious flaws. The game has great audio and visuals, the story is okay, and it's a lot of fun, but some of the gameplay elements are seriously lacking in fun, and some of the stages of the game suffer from lack of consideration. Side quests in the game are more of an optional chore than anything else and never add anything meaningful to the game. The primary story quests are mostly fine, though some don't make a whole lot of sense; however, many are mundane tasks that would be more enjoyable to watch then to actually do yourself.

    Imagine a game where you raid a castle full of enemies, but every room is separated by a locked door, and to open the door you have to go back to one of the rooms you previously cleared to grab the key. You don't have to search for it, you're told exactly where it is, but you have to manually walk over there, pick it up, and bring it back. Now imagine that every time to go between rooms you've already cleared, you have to open the door separating them, slowly walk through it, and then close it behind you even though you know you'll be coming back this way in a few minutes. This is how the story quests in Ni No Kuni feel. I understand for the sake of the plot the main character has to do some less than interesting things, but why did the game designers think it was a good idea to make the players experience these things, and even hold the player's hand while they do them. The game also feels like you never quite completed the tutorial part of the game. Part of it is that they continue to slowly introduce you to new features as the game progresses, but sometimes they slowly walk you through a process you've already done 20 times and it makes absolutely no sense.

    The biggest flaw with the game is the combat system. It's very similar to Final Fantasy 12's combat system where you control 1 of 3 party members at a time and can switch control to perform important tasks. The big difference is that FFXII had a deep system of customizable AI called gambits that let the players control how the other members acted without your assistance, and even that system left mature players wanting more control. The Ni No Kuni system gives you a handful and a half of vague commands such as "keep us healthy" and "go all out" which all seem to disappoint in some way other than "do whatever you want" and "do nothing" which work as you'd expect, unless you were expecting the AI to be smart that is. Since most of the bosses in the game revolve entirely around protecting yourself from charged up attacks, a big part of combat is hitting the defend or evade button to protect yourself at the right time. Now when you only have 1 character this is fine: all you do is cancel your attack, scroll through the clumsy console AI to defend or evade, and press X(cross) at the right time. It's a shame the developers didn't choose to use any of the many unused buttons to defend, but this could be due to some familiars not having either defend or evade or the ability to make all your characters defend with a different button. The strange thing is, they don't give you the ability to make all your characters defend until after you have all 3, so there's this awkward time where you have 2 characters and a boss is about to go nuts on you, but all you can do is protect one of you people. It's actually easier to kill some of the bosses by letting your partner die and then proceeding to outplay the boss according to his mechanics with the character you control.

    Despite the incredibly flawed combat system, the game is really fun. Even on normal difficulty and with the AI problems, none of the boss fights are more unacceptably challenging. Even if you do find something overly difficult, you can just grind a few levels or buy some more items to make up the difference. It would be nice if the game had more readily available information on the different choices of familiars and the tricks available to their various forms as well as stat values, but since you can beat the game with any randomly thrown together crew, it's hardly an issue. The game is certainly more appropriate for a younger, more casual demographic of gamer than myself, but there's plenty there for more mature gamers and powergamers to enjoy as well.

    +Amazing graphics
    +Good (Japanese) voiceovers. Have not listened to English.
    +Simple and trite but well executed story
    +Plenty of content
    +Noob friendly and kid friendly
    +Visually impressive, engaging, and fun boss battles
    -Awful AI foundation for core combat system
    -Too childish for some, and too easy outside of the artificial difficulty that comes from the poor AI
    -Lack of depth to combat and training system.    … Expand
  28. 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
  29. 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.
  30. 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
Page:

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
See all critic reviews »