Ni No Kuni

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » January 22, 2013, 5:15 am

I hadn't heard about this game until a few weeks ago when a fried mentioned it to me. It's a JRPG done by studio ghibli, and is getting really good reviews. It's ps3 only.

I'll be picking it up tomorrow and will update with my thoughts.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » January 22, 2013, 11:05 am

I saw the trailer for this while waiting in line at EB a few days ago.

I may pick this up today as Persona 4 Golden is rapidly becoming something I'm not comfortable with my daughter watching me play and she seems to enjoy JRPG's.

miir · Post by **miir** » January 22, 2013, 11:59 am

P4 has some mature concepts and content that make it unsuitable for kids to watch or play.

I got my copy of Ni No Kuni yesterday.
Only played it for 45 minutes so I haven't developed much of an opinion on it yet... but I like what I've seen.

It's a JRPG done by studio ghibli

Well kinda... but not exactly. Studio Ghibli produces anime films (Porco Rosso, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away).
The game itself was developed by Level 5 (White Knight Chronicles, Prof Layton, Rogue Galaxy).
Studio Ghibli was primarily responsible for the visuals and animation in Ni No Kuni.

I've been waiting years for this game

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » January 22, 2013, 1:56 pm

http://kotaku.com/5977952/twelve-things ... ni-no-kuni

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » January 22, 2013, 3:58 pm

miir wrote:P4 has some mature concepts and content that make it unsuitable for kids to watch or play.

I got my copy of Ni No Kuni yesterday.
Only played it for 45 minutes so I haven't developed much of an opinion on it yet... but I like what I've seen.

It's a JRPG done by studio ghibli
Well kinda... but not exactly. Studio Ghibli produces anime films (Porco Rosso, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away).
The game itself was developed by Level 5 (White Knight Chronicles, Prof Layton, Rogue Galaxy).
Studio Ghibli was primarily responsible for the visuals and animation in Ni No Kuni.

I've been waiting years for this game

Yeah, I was just too drunk and lazy to elaborate. I picked this up at best buy today, I got the last copy, the sales person said he couldn't believe it, I guess they had like 100 copies of it when they opened and it sold out by noon.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » January 23, 2013, 12:56 pm

Just wow.. within 5 minutes of putting it in, both my 8 yo and my 3yo were sitting next to me watching me play and they were both completely absorbed for the whole time we played..

That has NEVER happened before. I think I may be forbidden from playing when they aren't around..

The game looks amazing. Bar none some of the best voice acting/translation work done for a JRPG i've seen.

miir · Post by **miir** » January 23, 2013, 1:29 pm

My 4 year old asked me a few times if it was really a game. He was sure it was a movie.
Both of them were sitting beside me on the couch.. watching quietly.

My wife was sitting in the other room.. came in to ask me what we were watching because it sounded interesting.

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » January 23, 2013, 1:33 pm

My drink sat beside me and watched me play it for hours last night, if that counts.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » January 23, 2013, 6:06 pm

[Show]: I got into the other world, through the Deep Dark Woods and into Ding Dong Dell.

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » January 23, 2013, 6:49 pm

I'm at the town after that. I think I'm more than ten hours deep already, but I've been doing all sidequest and exploring before I move on to a new area. Once you get a second party member and all the fighting mechanics open up, the combat got a lot more enjoyable in my opinion. Before that it was boring me immensely, I would just get into a fight and tap x until the fight ended.

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » January 25, 2013, 1:49 am

I want to figure out what familiars to spend the most time leveling early on, but can't afford the guide right now and haven't seen a torrent of it. If any of you newsgroupers find it and want to share, I wouldn't argue

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » January 25, 2013, 9:58 am

I had a WTF moment last night after I got the 2nd familiar and was thrown into Ding Dong Well.

They give me a new level 1 familiar, throw me in a dungeon that requires at least level 5 and penalise me 10% of my gold for dying..

At least everyone gets XP when I finish a fight so the new familiar caught up quickly.

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » January 25, 2013, 2:18 pm

Yeah that happens regularly. There was actually a part I beat last night that I think could be game ending for people. I had grinded quite a bit before going there, and I had a tough time with the boss. And once you go into the bosses area you can't leave, nor level up.

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » January 25, 2013, 11:58 pm

Just looked on Amazon and it appears the cheapest you can get the guide unopened for is like 80 dollars. That's plain not happening so I'm going to scour the internet looking for it.

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » January 26, 2013, 12:01 am

I'm about 25 hours in now, and I think all of the mechanics of the game are finally opened to me, as well as having three party members and making combat more interesting.

I'll put this in a spoiler, but will still try to keep the spoilers to a minimum, I just want to give a heads up on the part I mentioned in my last post where you could potentially get stuck:

[Show]: When you get stranded on the fairy island, you will reach a point where you have to "go inside" the fairy godmother. As far as I can tell, once you go in there there's no way out until you kill the boss, and there are only 4 or 5 fights down there which I don't believe respawn. This means if you go in underleveled (which is a distinct possibility), you could potentially get stuck here.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » January 26, 2013, 8:23 am

[Show]: I got killed 2-3 times in the short walk between the Golden Wood and Al-Mamoon. Really should start listening to Drippy when he offers advice.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » January 26, 2013, 8:31 pm

Funkmasterr wrote:Just looked on Amazon and it appears the cheapest you can get the guide unopened for is like 80 dollars. That's plain not happening so I'm going to scour the internet looking for it.

I downloaded this game to try out so the good news for you is that I'll be looking for the official guide (haven't found scanned version yet). Visually very nice looking game and I can see why those that have kids are enjoying the game while they watch. A lot of it is like watching a Saturday morning cartoon.

So far, mana seems to be hard to come by.

for basic starter tips:

http://www.gamerevolution.com/features/ ... ards-guide

It's a little too "cute" looking for me but not that bad. Didn't like the opening story much. Not sure I like the battle system so far. At least early on, it's 1) run out of mana fast, 2) attack attack attack. Mana doesn't seem to regen at all or very fast so the healing spell seems worthless so far since no mana to use it or special attacks.

Very pretty game. The animations while Oliver runs around the world are well done. So far, there's a little too much button smashing through text, which is to be expected with a JRPG. Hopefully the battles/strategy will improve with less emphasis on extreme mana management. The sidekick guy with the lantern nose-ring is a little annoying too. Most of that is just personal preference though. Too early to form an overall opinion.

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » January 26, 2013, 8:53 pm

Yeah the battle system takes a while to get into full swing, I'd say somewhere in the 10-15 hour range. Later on interrupting attacks and timing blocks is pretty important and less you over level yourself for the content.

I don't like Mr. drippy either, the way he talks annoys the shit out of me.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » January 27, 2013, 12:58 am

http://youtu.be/SjEjHofpzRE

Some guy really excited about his Ni No Kuni game guide.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » January 27, 2013, 1:22 am

Not the 400 page Prima guide but the 336 page Wizard's Companion Guide

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xr7vu83yemv5n ... 20Book.pdf

for however long it stays up, someone posted it on another forum.

Looks helpful for alchemy, etc.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » January 27, 2013, 12:34 pm

Funkmasterr wrote:Just looked on Amazon and it appears the cheapest you can get the guide unopened for is like 80 dollars. That's plain not happening so I'm going to scour the internet looking for it.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Ni+No+Kuni% ... 1412&st=ni no kuni&lp=2&cp=1

oops, link doesn't copy well, but just search ni no kuni and it's there for $40

Fairweather Pure · Post by **Fairweather Pure** » January 27, 2013, 12:59 pm

http://www.amazon.com/Ni-No-Kuni-Wrath- ... tegy+guide

23.52 on Amazon

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » January 27, 2013, 3:13 pm

Ah, amazon is getting more in on the 29th. I'm not paying some parasite a penny more than the retail cost, just not how I roll.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » January 28, 2013, 4:02 pm

Is this anything more than just a pretty book that details the game and then a massive bestiary of all the familiars you can get and alchemical recipes?

If so then I'll pass or wait for the PDF.

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » January 28, 2013, 5:20 pm

The one winnow posted is just your wizards companion from in game. The strategy guide has all the quests and blah blah blah.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » January 28, 2013, 5:53 pm

search for SKU: 7531412 at bestbuy.com for the game guide I was trying to link

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » January 30, 2013, 1:41 pm

Gonna pick that up today, I completed the main story last night, and as I looked at some of what needs to be done, I realized there is no way to platinum this game without using the guide or at least a really good trophy guide online (which doesn't exist).

It's also going to take between 80-150 hours depending on luck, but I'm determined now, it's too late.

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » January 30, 2013, 3:22 pm

Funkmasterr wrote:I'm about 25 hours in now, and I think all of the mechanics of the game are finally opened to me, as well as having three party members and making combat more interesting.

I'll put this in a spoiler, but will still try to keep the spoilers to a minimum, I just want to give a heads up on the part I mentioned in my last post where you could potentially get stuck:

[Show]
When you get stranded on the fairy island, you will reach a point where you have to "go inside" the fairy godmother. As far as I can tell, once you go in there there's no way out until you kill the boss, and there are only 4 or 5 fights down there which I don't believe respawn. This means if you go in underleveled (which is a distinct possibility), you could potentially get stuck here.

[Show]: I did this bit last night. There is actually a way out through the middle staff room that drops you in the forest outside. This whole section of the game was pretty great.

I'm playing this a lot slower than I like mostly becasue I'm not allowed to progress in the story without my daughter there to see. When she goes to bed I do sidequests and hunt familiars.

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » January 30, 2013, 4:45 pm

Ahh, I totally missed that. I finished all the side quests and bounty hunts that are available prior to completing the story, and did a fair bit of grinding for familiars, etc and I finished just over 60 hours, just for a reference.

I actually over leveled myself considerably, and walked through the second half of the game. I finished with most of my main familiars around 70. However, the end bosses were still almost a challenge at that level. I'd recommend not going into the last dungeon (the game will warn you) without being at level 60.

I'm not at home so I can't go through my whole lineup, but off the top of my head two familiars if absolutely recommend getting and leveling up ASAP:
The cat with the sword that you find around castaway cove. His third form puss in boats is awesome. I have a sword on him that restores 10hp per hit and he hits fast as shit. I rarely need to heal with him.

Dinoceros. You can get him after you can fly on the plateaus on the north side of the desert. He's fairly rare and his chance of being tamed is low, but he's worth it. At his third stage I could have probably solod most of the game and nearly all of the solesseum ranks with him.

Another piece of advice, once you open up the third tier of rewards for merit cards, get the very last one ASAP. It gives you an additional 100 hp/mp for Oliver, which is huge.

If you're planning which in the last tier you want to get, bear in mind you won't be able to get more than like 12 merit cards worth of rewards in that tier til post game, and some of those quests require a significant amount of time. One of the quests for the master alchemist has supposedly taken some people 30 hours on its own due to requiring you to farm drops with almost no chance of dropping.

Also, if you're going for the trophies, two tips:
Feed your familiars you use primarily whenever they aren't full. To get their familiarity maxed out it takes an absurd amount of food and you can't feed them much at once.
Second:once you start getting to fight monsters that are second stage, start trying to take two of each of as many of them as you can. The trophy for taming 250 of them is tough. But one familiar at its third stage counts as three, and there are two choices for their third stage.

I can give more tips if anyone wants it.

Fairweather Pure · Post by **Fairweather Pure** » February 4, 2013, 12:42 pm

I used some Amazon credit and bought the book for the $23 listed above as well as the game due to great reviews. Not sure when I'll get to it but I look forward to playing through a quality JRPG again with a guide book. I haven't done that in over a decade+. Just looking through the game guide, which is extremely nice btw, brought a smile to my face looking at monster types and loot drops again. It has a nostalgia to it I haven't felt in ages.

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » February 4, 2013, 1:09 pm

Yeah the guide is really nice. It looks like I'll wrap the platinum for this up today or tomorrow. 95 hours into it, and I could've had the play like 15 hours ago if I bought the guide sooner. Oh we'll, even just grinding out levels hasn't gotten too boring.

Funkmasterr · Post by **Funkmasterr** » February 5, 2013, 6:46 am

Platinum tonight at about 102 hours. Was definitely a fun game!

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » February 5, 2013, 11:20 am

Except for crab hands!

Fairweather Pure · Post by **Fairweather Pure** » February 12, 2013, 4:05 am

My wife and I are going to try and play this together. It won't last, but I may get 1 or 2 interesting gaming nights with the wife out of it!

Animalor · Post by **Animalor** » February 12, 2013, 8:05 am

My daughter and I have come to a compromise that I can do side-quests and grinding for Familiars without her around however I can't progress in the main story.

VeeshanVault

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