I'm happy to have started expanding my variety of games and trying out new titles, even if they're within the same genre that I typically love. That's exactly the case with Ni No Kuni as I grabbed it for the Nintendo Switch on Black Friday! Typically I view my new Switch Lite as an RPG machine and I am so dang happy I picked this up. Released on the PS3 originally, Ni No Kuni (NNK from now on in this piece) is an action-RPG that mixes the gameplay of Kingdom Hearts with the creature catching of Pokemon. Developed by Level-5 (known for the Prof. Layton series) and beautifully designed by Studio Ghibli, you play as young Oliver as you soon embark on a quest in the hopes of saving your mother. Going from a suburban town to a sprawling fantastical world is certainly a jump and I immediately loved the charm that this game has.
You start off by roaming around the generic town of Motorville (something out of America in the '50s) before being transported to the magical world of Ni No Kuni. The visuals and the way items are animated (from the cape and legs to name a few) really gives the feeling that you're playing through a Ghibli movie. I was absolutely delighted by the colors and the animations of everything. You first are accompanied by Mr. Drippy who's a fairy that was entrapped in a doll in the real world. Full burst of Welsh accent come flying out of his mouth and it's kinda hilarious at some points. Speaking of which, the voice acting was all right, nothing too impressive. Some of the lines were corny and expected of a story like this.
Ok so, combat is somewhat interesting if you're used to numbers and stats in an RPG. Once you get a second party member, you then have the ability to tame more than one Familiar which are the various creatures sprawled about the world. These creatures have their own affinities which are strong and weak against other affinities. They also have their own equipment slots so you have a lot of managing to do. Plus they evolve (metamorphosis as the game puts it) after a certain level. In my playthrough I honestly found myself sticking with the ones the game gave you by default. It's possible that I missed something but during battle, there's a chance that the opposing monsters can be "Serenaded" to join your team. That rarely happened for me.
Also, I think because of the edition I got, there were special monsters immediately given to me that were somewhat over-powered XD. I used them for the whole game. At the start of battle, you can select who you want to either send out, or use the party member themself. You roam around the arena a la KH and have a set list of commands. Attacking will cause the creature to auto move and attack the nearby enemy. However, what's interesting is that sometimes having your party's monsters in the way can delay and take up that whole time slot. The creature you have sent out also has a stamina meter that drains so you can't stick with one forever. I enjoyed that encouragment of spending more time with the different creatures you tamed. You can also swap between other main party characters to utilize their spells and abilities! I ummmm rarely did that XD.
There's a plethora of other gameplay elements added from doing spells for puzzles, capturing human emotions to cure others of brokenhearted, to even feeding your monsters goodies to up their stats. Full blown item crafting as well, there's certainly a LOT you can do in NNK. There were some moments of struggles with getting my left and right mixed up when it came to scrolling through commands. Plus, some points oddly froze the game, I think there was one point where I had to restart.
The music was performed by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra and composed by famed Ghibli composer Joe Hisaishi and holy smokes was it beautiful. The triumphant nature of some songs while traveling the world map, you even get the ability to traverse via a flying dragon! Side quests and monster hunts are aplenty if you're in the mood for more items and experience. I mainly found myself enticed by the latter since they're a one and done creature fight. You can also gain HP and MP back in fights similar to how it's done in KH's combat. Some bosses seemed a little difficult, whereas others were a cakewalk and made me feel pretty damn good about my progress/levels.
Overall, Ni no Kuni is a fabulous RPG with chock full of charm and a lot of heart. Definitely had some heart string tugging moments which is what you'd probably expect out of a Ghibli film! Despite the lack of monsters I used and slight glitches, I had an amazing time in playing this game.
Should you Play this Game?
Yes! If you're a fan of JRPG's or Studio Ghibli, you'll be delighted at what Ni no Kuni has to offer. Beautiful music, fantastic animations and overall world design, the game will surely give you a smile on your face. If you have a Nintendo Switch, this is an awesome selection to play on the go. I cleared the main campaign in about 35 hours!
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