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. Welkinz
    Dec 29, 2019
    7
    I feel pitiful for the game. Its art and music are so good and they are the two biggest factors that keep me playing right now, yet its in game combat and data setting are so weird and awful. Why would you set iced coffee at 200, while MP is so important and low at the beginning? Why do you make the combat half-turn half-real time, and makes no shortcut button for commands? Why would youI feel pitiful for the game. Its art and music are so good and they are the two biggest factors that keep me playing right now, yet its in game combat and data setting are so weird and awful. Why would you set iced coffee at 200, while MP is so important and low at the beginning? Why do you make the combat half-turn half-real time, and makes no shortcut button for commands? Why would you only allowing players to save at waystones in “dungeons” but only set a waystone at the entrance and one before boss fight? This game has no learning curve but deliberately make it hard for no good reason… Expand
  2. robomartion
    Nov 15, 2021
    7
    The Studio Ghibli influence is strong and that at least adds up to fantastic sense of place in the game and a beautiful art style. The story is very charming, and starts off very strong, however, after the intro and the revelation that you run around as a mini version yourself on the map the game quickly goes downhill.

    With a mix of turn-based and realtime gameplay you would think this    The Studio Ghibli influence is strong and that at least adds up to fantastic sense of place in the game and a beautiful art style. The story is very charming, and starts off very strong, however, after the intro and the revelation that you run around as a mini version yourself on the map the game quickly goes downhill.

    With a mix of turn-based and realtime gameplay you would think this would be an improvement however it just ends up being a mind numbingly slow grind. Overall the combat is badly designed and boring and the battle music is extremely bad and that combined with the downgraded over-world once you leave the first town (the first in the fantasy party of the game) the game is just not worth playing after the beginning - which is a very beautiful and promising beginning to be sure. The gameplay in dungeons and areas outside of the overworld are just far too linear and Ni No Kuni never feels like it lives up to its own promises.

    Dragon Quest VIII is a far superior game and the artstyle and gameplay even holds up today and I think the challenging combat and depletion of mana and HP is to thank for that. If Ni No Kuni simply had DQVIII gameplay and world traversal with a Studio Ghibli aesthetic it would be an absolutely hit title for sure. I'm sure this game will hold a special place in many peoples hearts and the story and world is more charming than nearly any other game out there but the gameplay just doesn't make it worth while. As it stands they made too many changes to the formula and it just doesn't end up being any good.    … Expand
  3. shado474
    Jan 3, 2021
    7
    The story is great and charming and the art style and music are beautiful. The main thing this game suffers from is its combat, which is what nearly ruined the game for me. I had to switch it to easy difficulty to make battles as short as possible toward the end because I had no fun at all fighting bosses.
  4. Sunshadow87
    Jun 5, 2020
    7
    Francamente, cuando por fin he podido jugar a este juego ha sido una decepción.
    Voy a clarificar los puntos buenos del juego: la historia, los personajes, el mundo, los gráficos y arte estilo Ghibli... es decir, casi todo.
    ¿Cuál es el problema? El sistema de combate. Francamente, un punto MUY importante para un juego de rol, donde vas a pasar muchas horas combatiendo. El problema con el    Francamente, cuando por fin he podido jugar a este juego ha sido una decepción.
    Voy a clarificar los puntos buenos del juego: la historia, los personajes, el mundo, los gráficos y arte estilo Ghibli... es decir, casi todo.
    ¿Cuál es el problema? El sistema de combate. Francamente, un punto MUY importante para un juego de rol, donde vas a pasar muchas horas combatiendo. El problema con el combate es que esta completamente desequilibrado. Básicamente, durante el juego serán los monstruos los que peleen por ti, con ocasionalmente cambiando entre ellos si se les agota el tiempo o no son los más adecuados para un enemigo, y cambiando a los personajes humanos solo cuando sea necesario para utilizar una de sus habilidades (ya que sus estadísticas son muy inferiores a los monstruos). Pero el problema esta en que una buena parte de los monstruos son una bazofia... esto hace que el juego acabe consistiendo en conseguirte alguno de los monstruos buenos y espameandolo contra todo (uno de los monstruos buenos puede acabar con grupos de enemigos con uno o dos golpes hasta el final del juego, además de resistir bastantes ataques... mientras otros monstruos pueden estar atacando durante minutos para conseguir reducirle la vida al mismo enemigo...). Sumale que el sistema de batalla tampoco es el más rápido del mundo y en fin... pues esto es lo que tienes.
    Y otro punto negativo... el sistema de alimentación de los monstruos tipo tamagochi. No es el sistema en sí lo que esta mal, si no su lentitud. Osea, que cada 10 batallas me tenga que tirar 15 minutos dando de comer a todos mis monstruos es una manera de aumentar artificialmente la duración bastante ridícula...    … Expand
  5. arh3399
    Nov 9, 2019
    7
    This game has good characters and a solid story, but I didn't find the story all that compelling. The game is very linear and doesn't offer much of a challenge anywhere. The battle system is interesting and worth giving a shot, but it doesn't work great for the big boss fights at the end. Also, I had issues with it crashing on switch. Probably crashed 6 or 7 times on me over the courseThis game has good characters and a solid story, but I didn't find the story all that compelling. The game is very linear and doesn't offer much of a challenge anywhere. The battle system is interesting and worth giving a shot, but it doesn't work great for the big boss fights at the end. Also, I had issues with it crashing on switch. Probably crashed 6 or 7 times on me over the course of my play through so save all the time.… Expand
  6. Rhokin
    Aug 10, 2022
    5
    This game is quite charming in many ways. The story is not bad, the characters are quite memorable and the game looks great on the switch. The part that really hurts the game for me is the combat and progression. The combat I found to be unintuitive although I can see what they tried to accomplish. I don’t feel they executed the combination of real time and turn based styles well. TheThis game is quite charming in many ways. The story is not bad, the characters are quite memorable and the game looks great on the switch. The part that really hurts the game for me is the combat and progression. The combat I found to be unintuitive although I can see what they tried to accomplish. I don’t feel they executed the combination of real time and turn based styles well. The progression system and abilities are very basic. Ultimately the combat and progression system, as the bulk of the game, really fell short for me, hence the rating.… Expand
  7. Alberto_Rahl
    Mar 4, 2020
    6
    Antes de nada he de reconocer que solo he jugado unas 5 horas a este juego pero por una buena razón.
    Tanto la historia como el gameplay en sí es muy lento. Visualmente es magnífico, incluso sin ser la versión remasterizada para switch. Pero esperar igual 10 horas hasta que el juego empiece a animarse hoy por hoy es una locura.
    Posiblemente vuelva a este juego hacia el final de la vida    Antes de nada he de reconocer que solo he jugado unas 5 horas a este juego pero por una buena razón.
    Tanto la historia como el gameplay en sí es muy lento. Visualmente es magnífico, incluso sin ser la versión remasterizada para switch. Pero esperar igual 10 horas hasta que el juego empiece a animarse hoy por hoy es una locura.

    Posiblemente vuelva a este juego hacia el final de la vida de la switch y si mi opinión cambia también cambiaré la reseña pero a día de hoy no es un juego que pueda recomendar.    … Expand
  8. Biberattacke
    Jul 20, 2020
    6
    Ni No Kuni sieht wirklich toll aus. Es hat auch eine wundervollen Soundkulisse. Es ist einfach zauberhaft in seiner Erzählung. Man hat das Gefühl einen Film zu sein, und dass ist aus meiner Perspektive auch der Fluch dieses Spiels. Man fühlt sich nämlich wie auf Schienen, durchs Spiel getragen. Alles scheint vorgegeben und alles hat nur einen Lösungsweg. Die Kampfmechanik ist einNi No Kuni sieht wirklich toll aus. Es hat auch eine wundervollen Soundkulisse. Es ist einfach zauberhaft in seiner Erzählung. Man hat das Gefühl einen Film zu sein, und dass ist aus meiner Perspektive auch der Fluch dieses Spiels. Man fühlt sich nämlich wie auf Schienen, durchs Spiel getragen. Alles scheint vorgegeben und alles hat nur einen Lösungsweg. Die Kampfmechanik ist ein schlechter Witz. Man hat versucht Action und Taktik zu vereinen. Das ist so was von schief gegangen! Man hat kaum taktische Optionen und für actionlastigen Kampf ist die Steuerung zu kompliziert. Die wirklich knuddeligen und auch mir ans Herz gewachsenen Begleiter im Spiel bringen eigentlich viele Optionen, dennoch machen sie das Grundproblem des Spiels nicht wett. Nach ca. 8 Stunden Spielzeit habe ich beschlossen meinen Pile of Shame anwachsen zu lassen... leider. Aber ich mag einfach keine Zeit mehr in das Spiel stecken, wenn es so wenig Freude bringt. Das ist Schade, denn die Story hätte mich dann doch interessiert. Vielleicht schaue ich mir ein Longplay an.… Expand
  9. ELYS1UM
    Sep 20, 2022
    7
    Really good, but simple. I'd say my opinion of this game is more positive rather than mixed, but I can't rate it an eight. Consider it a 75/100. It's a beautiful game, and tells a pretty interesting story, but the world, characters, gameplay, and even the pretty interesting story are not all that memorable. I had a good time, and the game succeeded in doing everything it set out to, but itReally good, but simple. I'd say my opinion of this game is more positive rather than mixed, but I can't rate it an eight. Consider it a 75/100. It's a beautiful game, and tells a pretty interesting story, but the world, characters, gameplay, and even the pretty interesting story are not all that memorable. I had a good time, and the game succeeded in doing everything it set out to, but it feels like there was something more it could have done to make an impression on me.… Expand
  10. AlexMakesToast
    Nov 23, 2022
    6
    Ni no kuni = 6/10
    .........................................................
  11. latenightcritic
    May 6, 2023
    5
    The art style and sound design are gorgeous, but the gameplay itself is very slow paced (and kinda boring sometimes). The game suffers from a too linear and too easy main quest, even while having an interesting combat system. There are times when you have to go out to speak with a character just to go back right away to get an item that now you can have after learning how this new mechanicThe art style and sound design are gorgeous, but the gameplay itself is very slow paced (and kinda boring sometimes). The game suffers from a too linear and too easy main quest, even while having an interesting combat system. There are times when you have to go out to speak with a character just to go back right away to get an item that now you can have after learning how this new mechanic works. It almost look like a infinite tutorial on how the game works.… Expand
  12. M1sfiT
    Sep 3, 2023
    6
    Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaameeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees! nnk

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.
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