Saturday, January 26, 2013

Traveling between Worlds: Ni No Kuni a first Impression

So even though I've been doing homework like Mad there is only so long in a day when you can keep studying Networking-since for some reason I have a billion times work in that class then the SQL and JAVA course(ok maybe thats an exageration but close--I have started playing Ni No Kuni, the stunningly beautiful new game by Level 5 and Studio Ghibli. I'm not very far in yet but heres what i think so far.

The world is very very beautiful. The colors are bright and vibrant and the world looks like something straight  out of a studio Ghibli film. I swear Totoro is going to pop out from somewhere with the catbus. The music is by Joe Hisaishi, who has composed for quite a few studio Ghibli films, and the music is very beautiful.

I have to admit the battle system in the demo worried me. I got my butt kicked royally and was very u certain about if I'd be able to play this. However, so far its not so bad, but before going deeper in the I am defiantly leveling up a bit more. Hopefully the Bully method works in this game or it's going into the pile of put off till later to beat because i'm frustrated pile. But so far it's not as bad.

The story so far is interesting. Oliver lives with his mom, and one night he sneaks out with his friend to try out the car his friend built. He happens to see a mysterious girl who tries to warn him not to go. See Oliver is special, he's the boy with the power to save the world and this evil force wants him dead and causes an accident. Olivers mom though saves him by sacrificing herself and Oliver locks himself away in his room. When he cries on the stuffed doll his mom had given him it comes to live telling him he is Mr Drippy and he's been cursed and that Oliver is the pure hearted one who can save his world. He convinces Oliver to come by saying if he comes along they might be able to restore his moms life.

I have read a mostly negative review on the game. Saying the charchters lacked depth and complaining about random encounters, having to pay a penalty to resume from a game over, and few save points in dungeons, Except for the first one I don't see these as a problem. If you play a jrpg you are bound to come across random encounters. Heck I have to say I'd be more apt to complain about lack of leveling up proprieties like I did about FInal Fantasy XIII which didn't give you freedom to roam most of the game and had a lack of things to kill. Also I didn't have trouble avoiding battles since you can see them. Sure some are hidden in the trees and can sneak up on you. But if you keep your distance its easy to avoid them. The penalty thing also I don't see as a big deal. Heck if you've played an MMO you know if you get killed you loose XP. Sure it might make you more extra careful plus there is always the reset button. Also I have never seen a RPG where they had tons save points in dungeons. Usually you have one at the begining, maybe one in the middle and one right before the boss if your lucky. So I have no complaints so far. We'll have to see if the charachters do indeed lack depht though. If they do i will be disappointed. But so far I'm pleased.

2 comments:

  1. Luckily the Bully Technique works in this game. Despite its childlike exterior, I can't imagine kids being able to play this for very long since the game does not pull its punches. It's not crazy hard, just challenging.

    And I have to agree with you about the save points. You can save anywhere on the world map or in towns, making save points far more ubiquitous than in other games I've played. And the ones in the dungeons seem fair to me.

    Did you order your copy through Amazon? If so, you should be getting an email with a code to download a Griffy familiar.

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  2. I'm glad to hear that. I think that the reviewer in that article was not a real RPG fan considering how many there are where you have very very few save points. But actually there are a lot of games you can save anywhere on the map for instance Xenogears. But there are a lot you can't save on tbe map with as well. I think the reviewer just wasn't up to the challenge personnally.

    Yes I did order from Amazon and already redeemed my code. =) When I have a chance I'll play more. Right now i'm preparing for a special guest so I'm studying like mad to get ahead in my courses.

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