Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

 Switch
User Score
7.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 137 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 94 out of 137
  2. Mixed: 21 out of 137
  3. Negative: 22 out of 137
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  1. KrolMyruh
    Jun 18, 2020
    3
    Let me just jump right out of the gate and say I think this game is a 3/10 just cause of the combat. Not because of its depth or complexity, but because of a lack of a damn pause/slow time button. Honestly, it's just too much to try and find the right move before you get hit and die. More importantly though, enemies at the beginning of the game deal an insane amount of damage, so you'llLet me just jump right out of the gate and say I think this game is a 3/10 just cause of the combat. Not because of its depth or complexity, but because of a lack of a damn pause/slow time button. Honestly, it's just too much to try and find the right move before you get hit and die. More importantly though, enemies at the beginning of the game deal an insane amount of damage, so you'll just be running around the arena, eating white bread and casting heal spells on yourself. Definitely not my idea of fun.

    Also, the baffling design decision to allow people to return to their last checkpoint without their money is just ridiculous, especially since you can just return to the title screen and go back to your last checkpoint with all your money.

    Honestly, great game apart from the combat. This turn base gameplay just sucks    … Expand
  2. raymx3
    Apr 2, 2020
    3
    Well... I dont know where to start. This is one of the most fun but also one of the most boring and time consuming games I've ever played. I love myself a good jRPG but this one just doesnt do it. After a while, the game became very stale. The creatures are the only redeeming part of the game... and maybe the graphics as well. But after a while, the game just becomes a snooze. Rinse andWell... I dont know where to start. This is one of the most fun but also one of the most boring and time consuming games I've ever played. I love myself a good jRPG but this one just doesnt do it. After a while, the game became very stale. The creatures are the only redeeming part of the game... and maybe the graphics as well. But after a while, the game just becomes a snooze. Rinse and repeat. Grinding and evolding the creatures isnt even fun, as they go back to level 1 (yes, bufffed) but I just had to spend the last 2 days grinding to beat the next boss... I feel like I shouldnt have to do that after powering up my dudes. The graphics/world/animations? Awesome. really really great. I absolutely HATE the overworld but everything else is pretty sweet. Combat? Not my thing. Not at all. Its extremely clunky and often times a challenge to navigate. I have two tactics in the game: spam spells from the main character or rushdown with my creatures. Maybe I just havent figured it all out, but according to the walk through I am about 60-70% though the game. I should not be this lost in combat. The game holds your hand. A LOT. Not necessarily a bad thing, but the game would be equally as unfun (and many times harder) with the guide star off. The game feels extremely linear. One big game of follow the leader... but across an entire digital world for 100+ hours. Another thing that totally irks me is that every time something in the game/story can go wrong, it goes wrong. It feels like the writers had to go out of their way immensly to make this game last even 30 hours. Its just... gross.... and very very annoying. "Oh, Drippy is talking again. Oh his tone dropped. Oh guess we have to go do this and fix that now" Every. Single Time. Initally I was going to give this game a 6. I put it to a 4 then typed this. Now, as im wrapping up and rereading what I've typed, Im going to give it a 3/10. Maybe its just not my game, who knows. But if youre a fan of Dragon Quest, Octopath Traveler, or any decent JRPG, you may want to think twice about this one. Cheers!

    Someting to note: I went out of my way to make my account just to write this recview. I have been on Metacritic maybe... 5(?) times before today, if that. Okay, 'nuff said.    … Expand
  3. mtkf
    Apr 14, 2021
    4
    Game looks great, music is great, but the battle mechanics are so clunky it becomes an absolute chore any time you fight a strong enemy. Played a lot of ports on my switch and this one def feels like a PS2/early PS3 game. Probably won't finish it.
  4. EmCza
    Jul 2, 2020
    4
    This game is bad. Weak story, weak gameplay, only fantastic graphic. Nothing special.
  5. dmorris38290
    Sep 21, 2019
    1
    Probably the worst video game I have ever played. More like a long, slow, boring movie. Combat is so easy there's no reason to gather new sprites because your original few will dominate to the end. Nothing epic happens, nothing grabs you, no interesting characters. The combat is a yarn fest after the first few battles. When compared to other RPGs like Final Fantasy, Xenoblade Chronicles orProbably the worst video game I have ever played. More like a long, slow, boring movie. Combat is so easy there's no reason to gather new sprites because your original few will dominate to the end. Nothing epic happens, nothing grabs you, no interesting characters. The combat is a yarn fest after the first few battles. When compared to other RPGs like Final Fantasy, Xenoblade Chronicles or Octopath Traveler, this is just awful. Most overrated game on any platform, it feels like a failed Pokemon rip off, but why would you even collect more sprites when the first ones are overpowered? Just avoid this game.… Expand
  6. Phuz
    Oct 25, 2020
    2
    OK, so I might change this review as I play more but this is not proper Ghibli. The dialogue sounds American, the names sound American. I am 20 minutes in and so far it has sounded like the production process of American rubbish. There is nothing remotely Ghibli about this other than Joe Hisaishi doing the music, which is the only reason I am continuing past 20 minutes. I really hope theOK, so I might change this review as I play more but this is not proper Ghibli. The dialogue sounds American, the names sound American. I am 20 minutes in and so far it has sounded like the production process of American rubbish. There is nothing remotely Ghibli about this other than Joe Hisaishi doing the music, which is the only reason I am continuing past 20 minutes. I really hope the dialogue picks up because so far it is dreadful. I have seen many a Ghibli film ruined by OTT American voice overs that portrayed the characters terribly, so I have gone for the Japanese audio and subs on this. Not got to any gameplay yet but the cutscenes are a big disappointment so far. Anyway like I say, if it gets better I'll return and up the score but this does not exude Ghibli at all and I've seen at least a good 75% of everything from that studio, so I have a lot to compare against.… Expand
  7. TruckHeck
    Sep 23, 2019
    1
    The Switch version is NOT remastered in any way. It is a straight port of the original, last gen version on Ps3. Not lying, look it up. All the pretty videos you've seen in recent promotionals are in no way representative of this Switch version. It's a solid game, but this not-remastered PS3 port is completely passable. Maybe I'm being hard on it, but the marketing has been deceitful andThe Switch version is NOT remastered in any way. It is a straight port of the original, last gen version on Ps3. Not lying, look it up. All the pretty videos you've seen in recent promotionals are in no way representative of this Switch version. It's a solid game, but this not-remastered PS3 port is completely passable. Maybe I'm being hard on it, but the marketing has been deceitful and the actually visual fidelity of the game looks bad for a FULL priced game.… Expand
  8. matt1184
    Jul 28, 2021
    0
    This game is dreadfully awful. Thankfully, you might find it on sale. The story is very boring and the gameplay is fraught with annoyances. Don't bother playing this unless you very much don't like yourself.
  9. 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 amazed 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 amazed 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
  10. nanoka
    Oct 7, 2021
    3
    The style is gorgeous and its even more hard to admit that the game has horrible balance and difficulty spikes. Unfortunately, I couldn't enjoy the game since all your progress is being constantly reset by another level spike and you can't really feel any improvement as a player. Encounters are more boring than interesting, the game just spams them in you and its quite a mess.
  11. haskasu
    May 27, 2021
    2
    I was excited to play this Ghibli animated JRPG, and turned out very disappointed.
    The animation is awesome and touched. The battle system is ok.
    The problem is the story that is insanely stupid that I couldn't stand it after 10 hours of playing.
  12. Laundry
    Sep 29, 2021
    4
    Game is nice. Controls are awful. Seriously, I haven't been annoyed like that for a while

    Also, beginning of the game is reeeeeeaaallly sloooww
  13. Premier991
    Nov 23, 2021
    0
    The game itself is excellent, although I'd advise getting this on a different console. The Nintendo Switch version has too many crashes. I've lost hours of progress. Other than the frequent loss of save data, the game and Gameplay would have been around a 9 for me, but the loss of progress was infuriating. I wouldn't buy this game for the Switch if I could do it over. Frequent crashes on aThe game itself is excellent, although I'd advise getting this on a different console. The Nintendo Switch version has too many crashes. I've lost hours of progress. Other than the frequent loss of save data, the game and Gameplay would have been around a 9 for me, but the loss of progress was infuriating. I wouldn't buy this game for the Switch if I could do it over. Frequent crashes on a game that doesn't auto save is unacceptable. I played this towards the end of 2021,so there isn't an excuse to have crashes on a finished remaster from years ago.… Expand

Awards & Rankings

34
#34 Best Switch Game of 2019
34
#34 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2019

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
84

Generally favorable reviews - based on 23 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 23
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 23
  3. Negative: 0 out of 23
  1. Nintendo Force Magazine
    Apr 29, 2020
    90
    Ni no Kuni took a while to come to a Nintendo system in the West. But it's been worth the wait! [Issue #43 – November/December 2019, p. 12SH]
  2. Gaming Age
    Nov 27, 2019
    100
    It’s rare to find a game that’s as visually appealing as this one, and if that means going through a bit (okay, a lot) of grinding to see all this game has to offer, it may just be a price worth paying.
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  3. RPGamer
    Nov 18, 2019
    70
    Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch is a good JRPG held back by the poor design decisions made for the battle system. Straddling the line between the turn-based system of its DS forefather Ni no Kuni: Dominion of the Dark Djinn and the full action-based system of its PS4 sequel Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom does the game no favors, but for those that can successfully battle the familiars more than the system, there’s a great deal of fun to have with this game. With a solid story and an amazing, beautiful world to explore, the White Witch on Switch is a port that many JRPG fans will enjoy, especially those like me who are getting to play this for the first time.
    Read full review
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