I played the demo yesterday and was pleasantly surprised the Forest Guardian ended my life pretty quickly. It requires some dexterity to pick your moves and character efficiently, is seems.
I'll probably get it once it's released here in Europe.
I played the demo yesterday and was pleasantly surprised the Forest Guardian ended my life pretty quickly. It requires some dexterity to pick your moves and character efficiently, is seems.
I'll probably get it once it's released here in Europe.
From the demo, I can see how the difficulty could potentially ramp up as the game progresses. Definitely getting it after seeing the demo. My daughter wants to play it now, too.
All you guys sitting on the fence, I think it's a shame. If you are a fan of Ghibli movies and RPGs, there really isn't any reason to let this one slip by. This game is simply amazing!
I have never enjoyed Pokemon in my life, yet I still love this.
It's just cutesy enough to be, umm, cute, yet the themes are adult enough as you would expect. English voice acting is good all around. Game looks stunning. The soundtrack is probably the best i've heard this generation.
Im about 8 hours into it. Since I started playing I have been getting that long forgotten feeling I got as a kid, playing early FF games on a Saturday morning, while snuggled up in bed.
The adult themes is what I was hoping for. I'll be getting it as soon as I have the budget for it.Originally Posted by Croyles
Well, about as adult as any Ghibli movie I guess. Which is enough for me.The adult themes is what I was hoping for. I'll be getting it as soon as I have the budget for it.
Last edited by Croyles; 02-05-2013 at 02:57 PM.
I'll be another in the camp of loving Ni no Kuni despite never enjoying Pokemon.
I actually have tried multiple times to enjoy Pokemon since I feel like it's culturally significant, but I just can't stomach it. I missed it during my childhood despite being the perfect age for it to get me and I guess it's one of those that only works on nostalgia.
But yeah, I'm loving the way the combat works in Ni no Kuni. While it's similar in concept to Pokemon, it's completely different in execution.
And the game is a completionists dream. It's very similar to DQ IX in the respect that your quests are numbered and easily tracked with a journal. Also, the sidequests stamping your merit card is just a fantastic Skinner Box mechanic that keeps me addicted to doing extra stuff.
It's a game where you're making progress in several areas at one time which makes you feel like even fighting a lot of encounters is sort of fun. Your familiars get XP even without being in battle, which really helps that.
It was the same with me. I grew up with people around me playing the first pokemon game on gameboy (the japanese kids were playing it for quite a while). I tried it but while I enjoy some grindy games, pokemon never interested me that much.
The only true similarity this game has to Pokemon is the capture and use of creatures to fight for you. The actual battle mechanics remind me more of Final Fantasy XII or the Tales series.
Even with games that I enjoy, I usually find myself speeding through the game to finish it quickly, but with this game I find myself taking my sweet ass time with everything, because I feel like I WANT to see everything. I'm about 12 hours in now, in the second major "area" and still have plenty to do there. I reckon my game time will end up being quite a bit longer than the aforementioned 40 hours.
I also really enjoy the whole "Hearts" and "Parallel Worlds" concept and the way it smoothly ties the plot and game mechanics together.
There are plenty of excellent RPGs on the PS2, but I think I haven't enjoyed one so much since the SNES and PS1 eras.
Last edited by Croyles; 02-03-2013 at 10:08 PM.
This. I just never feel in a rush to do anything and so I love taking my time to do everything which is really rarely the case these days.
Right. Still really loving this game, but the first annoyances of the battle mechanics are starting to show themselves.
Either make the AI controlled characters more intelligent or give us a finer degree of control in their commands, because they tend to waste all of their MP in the first battle they come across.
The game has a "gambit" like system a la FFXII but is in no way as detailed or complex, meaning that any permanent commands you give them result in either them not using any abilities whatsoever or completely wasting their MP before it is actually needed, which causes a lot of sticky situations. The fact that you can't change these "gambits" outside of battle is also irritating.
Also, this problem is made worse by the fact that the MP of your allies aren't shown on the main battle screen. You have to either hover over them with a spell or otherwise to see it.
The battle system is probably already too tough for most kids (not because of it's complexity, its not that complex) so you might as well teach them a complex system like FFXII's gambit system so that they at least have a chance to survive.
It wouldn't need to be quite as complex but give us the options for sparse MP use and making them physically move away from attacks, because they just seem to stand there and take sucker punches to the face.
It's unfortunate because everything else about this game is stellar (and absolutely still worth playing and completing, don't get me wrong!).
Last edited by Croyles; 02-05-2013 at 02:45 PM.
You know, I'm kind of happy I managed to not fall for the 'I Smell' Trap.
Bought it on release date and I'm totally hooked.
Just make good use of all out defense and attack. See an opponents move coming? Go all out defense, block it, then revert back to all out attack. Simples. I agree it's annoying that you can't see their MP though. I just allow Esthar and so on to use familiars with tricks that contain low MP (Water Bomb) so they don't run out after every battle.
Speaking of which, what are your guys familiars?
I'm pretty infuriated that this is just for PS3.
This is a game I have been expecting for quite a long time and it did not disappoint, the only con I have is that in fights the familiars can run into each other if they are attacking different enemies which is a silly little problem that I would have thought Level 5 would have fixed asap before the game came out. Am I the only one who encountered this?
After having stopped playing for a bit, I think my opinion on this game has changed radically.
First and foremost, the games story is carried almost entirely on charm alone. Looking past that, there isn't a whole lot of substance to be had.
Secondly, the combat is pretty good, but god is the AI bad. Considering the AI controls 2/3 of your members at any given moment, that is a problem. AI only works as an ally when they aren't actively hindering you.
The only thing really holding my interest in the game was Shadar, so I went ahead did something I rarely do, and checked some spoilers. I was sad, because I'd guessed the games two Major Plot twists within the first hour or so of the game. Plot Twists in Question
1. Your Mother was from the other world.
2. You were Shadar's Soul Mate.
Couple that with a rather generic villain back-story, which is also sad considering how awesome Shadar was, the game is left without much meat to it story wise, and either too easy or frustrating gameplay.
Still though, visuals are absolutely stunning for the games villains.
Picked it up today. Haven't seen much that wasn't in the demo yet, but I'm only hour and a half in. I immediately turned off the waypoint marker for an extra mindgame.
I have a feeling there's going to be a lot of (redundant) dialogue that might ruin the pace for me, but I can't wait to dive into the familiars and tame some creepy weird ones. I think I'll also really like the universe with all it's little puns and general weirdness.
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