Ni No Kuni is now my favorite game. I think what really makes this game so special for me was just how magical the world was. I was always looking forward to what the next area would look like, what it would sound like, and what part of the story was ahead. The character animations and design were great and the overall art of the game being done by Studio Ghibli had me knowing this was going to be a special game for me.
Ni No Kuni is a JRPG but the one trope of the genre that wasn’t present, at least for me, was grinding. I only died maybe four times in my playthrough while playing on Normal difficulty, the highest difficulty available, but that’s fine with me. Games that are needlessly hard tend to not click with me so it was nice to have such a colorful and friendly world not be hindered by insane difficulty spikes.
Let’s talk about that colorful world for a little bit. The game gets it’s art from the famous Studio Ghibli which has always held a special place in my heart and whose art always cheers me up. Whether it be from the first town you enter in Ding Dong Dell, a town ruled but King Tom the cat, to the eerie Nevermore Castle the game oozes atmosphere and stunning visuals. The colors pop on the overworld and even in an ice dungeon later in the game everything just looks so perfect.
I feel the best aspect of the game is the characters, though. Mr Drippy is one of your companions throughout the game and everything about him is just perfect. He has some kind of British accent and a sassy attitude which is always a winning combination for me. Esther and Swaine are your other companions and to me only Esther felt kind of flat to me with no real reason for me to really care for her or her motivations, if there were any that I missed. Swaine on the other hand had a great story and without spoiling much gets reunited with someone close to him and you can actually feel the emotion between the two in the scenes that unfold. The game has a theme of emotion throughout the whole story and it always feels genuine.
So when you’re not following the main story what else is there to do? Each area has an errand board to pick up side quests and bounty hunts to be completed to fill out stamp cards for passive bonuses. There’s something so satisfying about filling your log up with side quests and seeing them get crossed off after completing one after another. The quests might seem boring to some though as they can be very straightforward but a few make you think for a minute as to where exactly to go or what to do.
The other thing to do is capture and evolve monsters. Since the art is done by Studio Ghibli the monsters are absolutely the best enemies I’ve ever seen in a video game. Each monster is unique and with a creature compendium there’s that “gotta catch them all” feeling. You can also feed familiars special treats to boost their stats and when they reach a certain level you can feed them an item to evolve them to their next stage where they can go from looking like one thing to a totally different thing which is awesome, again I couldn’t wait to see what was next.
So why is Ni No Kuni, in my opinion, such an amazing game? It just makes you so happy while playing it. The characters, the world, the gameplay, just work so well and create a sense of joy. Sure the AI isn’t perfect and things can seem a little simple and easy at times but that didn’t take away from my experience. If you enjoy RPGs you owe it to yourself to give this game a try even if it’s just to experience the world, put the game on easy and experience a gripping and heartfelt story. For the first time in an RPG I’m looking forward to doing the post-clear content because it all goes back to that question for me...what’s next?
Ni No Kuni is a JRPG but the one trope of the genre that wasn’t present, at least for me, was grinding. I only died maybe four times in my playthrough while playing on Normal difficulty, the highest difficulty available, but that’s fine with me. Games that are needlessly hard tend to not click with me so it was nice to have such a colorful and friendly world not be hindered by insane difficulty spikes.
Let’s talk about that colorful world for a little bit. The game gets it’s art from the famous Studio Ghibli which has always held a special place in my heart and whose art always cheers me up. Whether it be from the first town you enter in Ding Dong Dell, a town ruled but King Tom the cat, to the eerie Nevermore Castle the game oozes atmosphere and stunning visuals. The colors pop on the overworld and even in an ice dungeon later in the game everything just looks so perfect.
I feel the best aspect of the game is the characters, though. Mr Drippy is one of your companions throughout the game and everything about him is just perfect. He has some kind of British accent and a sassy attitude which is always a winning combination for me. Esther and Swaine are your other companions and to me only Esther felt kind of flat to me with no real reason for me to really care for her or her motivations, if there were any that I missed. Swaine on the other hand had a great story and without spoiling much gets reunited with someone close to him and you can actually feel the emotion between the two in the scenes that unfold. The game has a theme of emotion throughout the whole story and it always feels genuine.
So when you’re not following the main story what else is there to do? Each area has an errand board to pick up side quests and bounty hunts to be completed to fill out stamp cards for passive bonuses. There’s something so satisfying about filling your log up with side quests and seeing them get crossed off after completing one after another. The quests might seem boring to some though as they can be very straightforward but a few make you think for a minute as to where exactly to go or what to do.
The other thing to do is capture and evolve monsters. Since the art is done by Studio Ghibli the monsters are absolutely the best enemies I’ve ever seen in a video game. Each monster is unique and with a creature compendium there’s that “gotta catch them all” feeling. You can also feed familiars special treats to boost their stats and when they reach a certain level you can feed them an item to evolve them to their next stage where they can go from looking like one thing to a totally different thing which is awesome, again I couldn’t wait to see what was next.
So why is Ni No Kuni, in my opinion, such an amazing game? It just makes you so happy while playing it. The characters, the world, the gameplay, just work so well and create a sense of joy. Sure the AI isn’t perfect and things can seem a little simple and easy at times but that didn’t take away from my experience. If you enjoy RPGs you owe it to yourself to give this game a try even if it’s just to experience the world, put the game on easy and experience a gripping and heartfelt story. For the first time in an RPG I’m looking forward to doing the post-clear content because it all goes back to that question for me...what’s next?
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| Oliver with Mr. Drippy |
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