Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch Demo

[Drako]

Looks like a must buy for me.

My wife is going to make fun of me when she sees me playing it though .

[Aikouka]

Hmm I'm debating whether or not to change my pre-order to Gamestop so I can get the nice steelcase for the game.

[VashHT]

Did anyone pick this up yesterday? I only played for like 20-30 minutes but it's pretty sweet so far I'm enjoying it a lot.

[Aikouka]

I got my copy yesterday! Unfortunately, I spent awhile determining why my UPS kept beeping every two seconds (couldn't be muted ), so I only got to play for about an hour and a half. The battle system is definitely a lot easier since when I first started playing in the demo, but I also don't recall there being a stamina meter in the demo.

[VashHT]

I didn't play the demo but I found the combat to be a bit more challenging than most games are in the beginning. Is there a way to cycle through commands other than using the dpad? It's pretty annoying trying to run using the left analog stick and having to switch commands with the dpad.

[Aikouka]

Originally Posted by VashHT

I didn't play the demo but I found the combat to be a bit more challenging than most games are in the beginning. Is there a way to cycle through commands other than using the dpad? It's pretty annoying trying to run using the left analog stick and having to switch commands with the dpad.

I agree with you on selecting the command being too difficult. When you're selecting the command is the only time you have to move, which means you need to also use that time to move! I know L1 is fighter switch (Oliver <-> Familiar) and R2 is target switch, but I don't think anything is assigned to L2 and R2, so I wish they would have used those instead.

[exdeath]

Originally Posted by Drako

Looks like a must buy for me.

My wife is going to make fun of me when she sees me playing it though .

Force her to watch and make her cry.

[SandEagle]

all of the reviews have been stellar, except from EGM. still have to pick this up this week. please continue posting your impressions on it.

http://www.1up.com/reviews/ni-no-kuni-review-ps3

[Aikouka]

There's a part of me that wants JRPGs to do well in the United States, and that had me worried about this game. Apart from gaming sites talking about it ever so often, I hadn't heard much about it or seen any real advertising. I went to my local Gamestop to see if they were having a midnight launch, and the guy said that they didn't get enough pre-orders to do one. To make matters worse, when talking to people that I know (in real life) that play RPGs, none of them seemed to know about the game or even care about it. My only thought was that the only way people would care about this game is if it was called "Final Fantasy: Ni no Kuni"! Amusingly enough, I've had some of the aforementioned people talk to me about the upcoming Final Fantasy XIII-3.

Anyway, with that, I've actually been rather happy to see that the game seems to be doing pretty well. I was in Target last night, and they didn't appear to have any copies left. Amazon currently has the game on a 1-3 week wait, and on Amazon, it's the #1 most-wished-for game, #1 PS3 RPG, #2 PS3 game and #3 game, and I believe that's only because FarCry 3 was on sale the other day (FarCry 3 for 360 and PS3 holds #1 and #2 respectively).

It's rather nice to see.

EDIT:

Oh, and I got my guide in yesterday. I don't really use the guides that I buy, but I couldn't help myself. Wait, I can use the fact that it was manufactured in the US as my excuse!

[exdeath]

My only gripe so far:

OMG I hate mechanical media with firey passion!

[Aikouka]

Originally Posted by exdeath

My only gripe so far:

OMG I hate mechanical media with firey passion!

The disc? The game has pretty good load times, which isn't surprising since it installs 4GB to your HDD. When it comes to games that look like this, I'm used to Blue Dragon, which had load times that were probably twice as long. ...or go torture yourself with play Fable 3 for awhile, and then it will all seem better!

EDIT:

My biggest complaint and I think it is a huge blunder on Level 5's part is the monster respawn rate! If you walk 20 feet away, a mob that you just killed will respawn. It's not only annoying but doing some excess exploring (a big part of RPGs) can lead to over-leveling!

[exdeath]

Nah I typed that while waiting for the install . Ive shunned mechanical media years ago, it's amusing to handle anything as archaic as a disc and listening to it buzz and still only manage mere megabytes per second. Anything less than 2GB/sec and access time greater than .01ms is stone age to me.

I love overleveling and excessive early grinding. Breeze through the story with minimal drama and annoyances.

So far I love it, though the pace feels rushed and chopped. No time to wallow in tragedy and the next instant Drippy dumps you the whole story in 3 sentences and Oliver is just like "oh ok."

Slow down and let it simmer a bit heh. A few days and nights visiting his mom and more interaction with the town and hesitation to believe Drippy immediately is what I would have done. Players need time to be attatched to things for any losses or leaving your home and friends behind to go to another world to actually feel real.

And intros giving the title banner with climatic intros should occur after something epic at least 2+ hours into the game just when shit gets real, and you might have actually zoned out and forgot you were playing a game, not immediately upon pressing start

[FeathersMcGraw]

L2 and R2 do let you select combat commands -- they're equivalent to left and right on the d-pad.

[oivoodsio]

Originally Posted by Aikouka

So, I gave the demo a try earlier this morning, and it's definitely an interesting game. I also made sure to pre-order it, and I wish I would have got in on the Wizard Edition when I saw it months ago.

Anyway, the demo has two segments that you're allowed to play. There does appear to be a time limit, but I'm not 100% sure how long it is as it only shows up when your time is nearly done; I think it appeared when three minutes were remaining. I played the first segment (the one on the left) where you start in a forest and are tasked with taking care of a raging guardian. This segment was a little tough on me, because the demo pretty much threw you in right before a boss battle with no real introduction to the battle system. I died twice on the boss before I learned a few nuances about how the system works, and taking advantage of those aspects of the battle system definitely made the fight a lot easier.

The battles are performed in real time and you're allowed to move around in free space (i.e. not a grid) as long as you're not executing a command. Commands can be anything from defense, attack or special moves. Now, it appears that the main character summons this sort of creature to fight for him. If you've seen any artwork, it isn't Drippy (the weird lantern creature), but some small creature with a sword and shield. Drippy does appear to be in your party, but I was never able to do anything with him, or at least, I couldn't figure out how. You're able to dynamically switch between the main character and his small fighter, which is necessary as the main character is the one with the heal, and you'll probably need it.

One aspect that people will probably be happy to hear is that there are no random encounters. Enemies exist on the map with you similar to Blue Dragon. One thing that I picked up on quickly was that it seems like enemies move a lot faster than you. It got a bit tiring after awhile as the mobs that I was fighting were all rather weak, but they would chase me down once they spotted me. I was trying random buttons to find some sort of run/sprint button, but nothing seemed to work.

I didn't really get to see much of the story as I was only in a small part, but I have to say that they gave Drippy a really weird translation... I suspect that they're pushing him with some certain accent. I always play games like this with the Japanese language option, and Ni no Kuni does have one. So, I'm not certain what the English voices sound like, but Drippy didn't appear to have a weird dialect in the Japanese dialog. It doesn't really detract much, but it is odd reading some of the spellings of words. I'm trying to recall an example from the game, but I can't remember. It seemed like there were random Us being thrown in like "oveur" instead of "over", or something like that. Strange.

The game is definitely very nice looking. It reminds me a lot of Blue Dragon, but with more of an animated look than a cell-shaded look. The world is 3D, which is also similar to Blue Dragon, and not isometric similar to games like Lost Odyssey.

Never heard of this but, I'm from the no tutorials days of gaming. You should be thrown into the fire w/o any knowledge of wth is going on.

[Phobic9]

Despite the fact that I generally dislike anime (though this really isn't considered anime perhaps) and I'm normally not one for games with a "kiddy-type" atmosphere, I'm really enjoying this game a lot. It feels like an old school JRPG but I'm liking it a lot. I just got to Al Mamoon so I'm sure I have a ways to go.

[exdeath]

Yeah its a bit too "chibi" at times... but its worth it.


So much attention to detail. I love the hesitation and embarrassing face Ollie makes every time he has to say "your Meowjesty" and the way he wobbles and tip toes around navigating logs and stuff, or how his head or eyes follow strange bugs and things even as youre running somewhere. Atmosphere is so alive and genuine.

A lot of love went into this game. A LOT. You can tell they weren't focused solely on boosting quarterly statements for investors like two other companies not worth naming.

I'm quite pleased that the game is sold out at numerous local stores. There is hope for something other than shooters still.

[DigDog]

i did the Localisation for that game;

i probably hated everything you love about it but hey, diff'rent strokes.

if you need any game tips, ask away.

@Aikouka - yeah, they decided that Drippy needed some extra cuteness so they gave him that weird sort-of- scottish accent. In the other EU languages it's even worse. Proper tidy, Ollie boy!

[Aikouka]

Originally Posted by FeathersMcGraw

L2 and R2 do let you select combat commands -- they're equivalent to left and right on the d-pad.

Heh... and here I was sitting there wishing that it did that! I can't remember which menu, but I do recall some menus that require you to use the d-pad as well, and I wish those would work with the joystick. Ultimately, I just want to avoid having to shift my left hand between the two.

Originally Posted by exdeath

Yeah its a bit too "chibi" at times... but its worth it.

I don't know if I'd call it chibi as chibi is a very specific sort of art style in anime. The game is really just what you would expect when you have a young protagonist. Although, I think I would take Ollie's confused nature over the normal JRPG hero brooding nature.

Originally Posted by exdeath

I'm quite pleased that the game is sold out at numerous local stores. There is hope for something other than shooters still.

It is really nice to see. I keep trying to suggest the game to people, but I'm not sure if it's taking too well. One nice thing is that since it's only rated E10, it's pretty easy to suggest it to people with pre-teens (or teens) that enjoy playing games.

Originally Posted by DigDog

@Aikouka - yeah, they decided that Drippy needed some extra cuteness so they gave him that weird sort-of- scottish accent. In the other EU languages it's even worse. Proper tidy, Ollie boy!

Yeah, I don't really get what he's talking about half the time. I play the game with Japanese audio, and that introduces a bit of an interesting problem. Since I've seen way too much (subtitled) anime, I can understand a modest amount of what I hear (as long as the vocab isn't too complex). So, when I hear Drippy say one thing and then read a completely different translation on the screen, it usually throws me for a loop. It's usually a similar meaning, but I think the English tries to explicitly show things that exist in the Japanese via context.

[DigDog]

ur in for a bit of a treat, then (later in the game); there's one scene they pretty much murdered in the translation (but it's available in 3 versions, when you finish the game).

if you guys do get stuck later on, with the end game quests, throw me a PM

[footballrunner800]

So is this worth buying a ps3 to play? This comes from a guy that loved all the final fantasy 1-10 games and was disappointed with 11-13.

[exdeath]

I'd say so.

I'd buy a PS3 just for this one game.

Game is beautiful, and I dont just mean graphics. I haven't been this captivated by an RPG since PS2.

I went and got a copy local to start playing while my Wizard Edition ships.

Just got the boat, sitting at level 50ish heh would have kicked Shadars ass if it wasn't scripted.

[DaveSimmons]

Originally Posted by footballrunner800

So is this worth buying a ps3 to play? This comes from a guy that loved all the final fantasy 1-10 games and was disappointed with 11-13.

If you get a PS3, also take a look at:
- Valkyria Chronicles (turn-based strategy with JRPG elements and very nice visuals)
- Ratchet & Clank Collection - HD port of PS2 classic platformer / shooters, the graphics looked great even in SD on PS2

... as well as the usual God of War, etc. that everyone recommends.

[Sulaco]

Originally Posted by footballrunner800

So is this worth buying a ps3 to play? This comes from a guy that loved all the final fantasy 1-10 games and was disappointed with 11-13.

I would never buy a console for one game, unless you're getting a fantastic deal on the console, or definitely foresee yourself being interested in and wanting to purchase other games currently out or coming out in the near future for it.

[Fingolfin269]

Need to finish ME3 so I can play this.

[Fingolfin269]

Originally Posted by Sulaco

I would never buy a console for one game, unless you're getting a fantastic deal on the console, or definitely foresee yourself being interested in and wanting to purchase other games currently out or coming out in the near future for it.

The great thing about the PS3 is that it's also a Blu-Ray player. The only reason I own one currently is because of Uncharted (and to some extent GoW)... and the fact that it plays BRD.