*~*WARNING: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS!*~*Back in the last day of 2014, I reviewed what I considered an absolutely phenomenal game known as Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch. I didn't mention it in that review, but that game is still on my overall favorites list, contending with my all-time favorite, Skies of Arcadia. In ways I found Ni No Kuni far superior, but in others I still think Skies of Arcadia deserves that top spot.
It was a game released back in 2010 originally for the Nintendo DS, and then revamped, expanded, and tweaked to what I consider perfection on the PS3 on November 17th, 2011. From its initial trailer, I was exceptionally hyped. The cutscene graphics alone were breathtaking for their time, and it showed that this was a game that was backed by Studio Ghibli. But even the normal graphics were gorgeous, the gameplay looked interesting, and I was curious as to what the experience was going to be like. It was also developed by one of my favorite gaming studios, Level 5. They've yet to develop a game I didn't enjoy, so expectations were high.
While it was a mere
2 years before I got my hands on this game, it was well worth the wait. The soundtrack was outstanding, the gameplay was exceptional, the amount of content was enough to keep you busy for a good while, the story is still a favorite of mine, and overall it was just an exceptional game. There were bad moments to be sure, such as the not-always-up-to-par voice acting and some of the quests not being entirely fulfilling, but overall it's still a game that I remember quite fondly, and still find myself playing again from time to time.
Naturally, when news for Ni No Kuni II appeared, I was ecstatic. I didn't know how they were going to go about it since the ending was pretty closed, but at the same time there's always ways to bring back the protagonist to save the world that's in trouble.
But then more news appeared: Not only would it not be starring the protagonist of the first game, but this was going to be set
centuries after his adventures, so him and basically everyone from the first game would be long since gone.
Admittedly this was a little unsettling, but at the same time I was still intrigued. What would the world look like centuries after we'd already traversed it? How did it change after the events from the first game? Would anything remain the same, or would everything be different?
And that brings us to now, the first-impressions review of Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom.
So, one thing to start with is that unlike the previous game, Ni No Kuni II doesn't have the powerhouse of Studio Ghibli helping them out. However, the previous character designer (who works with Studio Ghibli) and music composer (who has had a hand in many of Miyazaki's films) both returned to help out with this game.
And the change definitely shows, as unlike the first game there are absolutely none of the stunning cutscenes done in the traditional but visually beefed up Ghibli style. Instead, the sequel chose to have all of its cutscenes in the normal in-game format, with some occasional story-book visual scenes from time to time (which the first game had on small occasion when talking about past events).
Now, I'll admit that I absolutely miss the gorgeous ghibli-style cutscenes, as they were a favorite part for me when it came to the first game. However, I won't say that the lack of them makes the game any "worse" as I think it functions just fine without them. The in game graphics for the most part are still just as gorgeous, if not more so since they've been beefed up a bit for the new console/PC.
First, let's talk about the good parts about the graphics change. In the case of the first set of screenshots, there second definitely has more polish and form. Characters have more of a look to them and they look sharper...almost like we're watching from a straight up anime. The style still very much retains its beautiful look that made it good to begin with, but it's still a nice touch up.
In the case of the second, the world map looks absolutely better in the case of the second game. While it's less cartoon-ish and a little more on the realism-look side, it still meshes perfectly with the game. Personally, it was a very welcome change overall.
Now...let's talk about the bad.
In the case of the world map comparison (which extends to both the Skirmish and Kingdom Builder...which I'll get to later), the first game had it better in terms of the character sprite. Whereas it used the regular models, the second game opted to use chibi forms of them instead. To me, this was a bit disappointing, but it didn't become exceptionally noticeable until the Skirmish Mode and the Kingdom Builder. Granted, there was really no way for them to incorporate the former in a better way...there was absolutely no excuse for the latter.
Like in World Map/Skirmish mode, your character (and by extension ALL characters in your town) are chibi forms of themselves in the Kingdom Builder. The only time you get to see their regular style is A) When you first recruit them out in the world, and B) When you buy something from the ones that sell you things (in which you're presented with their regular in-game model on the screen). You don't get to explore the buildings you create (outside of going into the castle), so outside of cutscenes, you never do get to see the full view of the beautiful kingdom you're creating
as you're creating it.
Coming from someone who has played both Dark Cloud and Dark Cloud 2/Dark Chronicle, it's not incredibly difficult to have a game where you have one view when making your city/Kingdom (Aka the top down method), and then being able to shift to the normal view so you can traverse the same town normally (aka the normal game-view).
Dark Cloud 1 Build Vs. View mode
Dark Cloud 2 Build Vs. View mode
Ni No Kuni 2 Build Vs. View Mode
Yep, it's the same.
And on Dark Cloud 2, that game even took it further and was like "Oh, by the by...everything you're building affects that area in the future. And you can actually go into the future to see how it's affected with each thing." And that was a game released in
2002.
Ni No Kuni II's Kingdom Builder is not in the same league, and we're talking the league of two PS2 titles from over a
decade ago. If I had to compare it to anything, it's like building a town in Age of Empires of Warcraft, but with less charm since it's not under threat of potential attack at any given time.
But I hear you ask "Why are you comparing it to a completely different game (in the sense of comparing it to Dark Cloud 1 and 2)?" Well, I actually have a good reason. What was once a fledgling company at the time that is well known for games nowadays such as Professor Layton are the ones who made the Dark Cloud/Dark Chronicle franchise. In fact, Dark Cloud and its sequel were its first titles to ever hit the public market.
You might know that company as Level 5.
Sound familiar? It should. Can't place why? Let me backtrack to the beginning of the review:
It was also developed by one of my favorite gaming studios, Level 5.
Yep, that's right. The people who made the Dark Cloud franchise also made this game as well as its predecessor. And what's more, I'm comparing their
first products which had a unique innovation in settlement building (from the first's basic approach to the second's material hunt approach) to their latest product that tries the same thing.
So if their first games could incorporate a switching view just fine, why did their latest project opt for a top-down chibi-only look?
The only reason the first game didn't get any flack was because it was in my opinion one of their best every made, especially visually. This one, however, has no excuse when it comes to a system they had already basically perfected
in their first 2 released titles.
Visually overall the game is absolutely phenomenal like its predecessor despite the lack of Ghibli polish, but things like chibi world map and the especially disappointing basic approach to the Kingdom Builder make it feel a little disjointed at points.
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Alright, so I yapped about graphics enough, so let's get on to what else matters: The gameplay.
Now, Ni No Kuni if you recall was a game that I considered a mix of Pokemon, Kingdom Hearts, and Final Fantasy. It had a battle style like Kingdom Hearts/Final Fantasy 12 (to where in the former's case you gathered blue/green orbs for HP/MP recovery), it was open world-style like a typical Final Fantasy or Tales of game, and you recruited and evolved monsters that you could find absolutely anywhere on the field (barring bosses/bounties, of course). It was real-time-ish, but in the lines of, say, Tales of Vesperia/Graces/etc as opposed to absolute real time (as in no secondary screens). It also had a limit-break like feature when you snagged a golden orb, hence more of the FF comparison.
Ni No Kuni 2 is almost 100% completely different. Rather than being "real-time-ish," it's much more absolute real-time. The command screen has been completely scrapped in favor of the traditional method of holding a trigger button, and then pressing another button to use one of the skills, and the only time the battle pauses is if you access your inventory to use an item. Likewise, yellow orbs no longer grant you a limit-break feature, but instead just make your character a little stronger altering their attack a bit (which is a little disappointing).
One of the biggest differences (provided you aren't on the map) is that you'll engage monsters right then and there on the field. No secondary loading screens, just BOOM, instant battle and instant battle-end. If you're on the map, however, it'll still do a secondary loading screen if you engage in a battle.
However, the absolute biggest difference is that you no longer recruit Familiars (aka the monsters) to fight for you on the field. Instead, all of the fighting is done by the characters themselves, which as much as I don't like that system scrapped, it makes sense given the direction they're going for the more real-time approach.
But their replacement (aka the Higgledies) are...well...here, let me show you:
So, yeah. They're pretty basic compared to recruiting literally
any monster you encounter on the field that isn't a boss/bounty.
To give an idea, all of these can be recruited and evolved into more formidable forms.
They're also pretty basic, at least so far. They do little damage, and their only saving grace is their special attack that they do if you press X (or whatever the PC equivalent is) when it's prompted. Sometimes it heals, sometimes it hurts the enemy a decent amount (it depends on the accompanying Higgledies' abilities), but otherwise they're essentially bland and useless.
You obtain them by either giving specific items to the "Higgledie Stones" scattered throughout the world, or by just purchasing them from one of the characters in your kingdom.
Speaking of basic, let's go back to my favorite topic, the Kingdom Builder!
So the game is called Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom, and it's about a boy who, after being forced to flee his Kingdom, goes off to make his own Kingdom. Naturally, you'd think the game is going to have an exceptionally elaborate and engaging type of "Settlement builder" element to it, especially since it does mention having a Kingdom Builder to where you can build the perfect Kingdom.
Or...you know, I guess basic works okay too.
So yeah, not just graphically, but overall what should be the selling point, the highest point of the game outside of the story...is probably what is lacking the most in this same game.
Let me break it down into the simple setup:
You're presented a small area at first consisting of the castle, and a few basic plots. You use a currency called "Kingsguilder" and purchase the plots to build a building in its place. You do not get to decide which building goes to each plot, nor do you get to decide where to put any buildings you buy, it's all pre-determined and planned out for you. So basically, you're spending this currency to make a pre-decided building appear from an empty place.
Eventually when you make enough and meet certain conditions, you can upgrade the castle which in turn increases the size of your town. Or, following the simple process already laid out, just adds more plots with (naturally) pre-decided buildings that you can use your currency to buy.
You DO, however, get to decide who gets to run each building. But before you get too excited thinking there's an incredible amount of choice, there isn't. The game makes it clear (even with a yellow star indicator) which people are best suited for which buildings. Certain research can't even be done unless characters with a specific title are assigned to that building.
You can, however, level up your buildings and thus open the roads to more research...by simply spending more Kingsguilders. You can also have a building research assigned topics (IE your weapons store can research new weapon types or better forging)...if you're willing to spend more Kingsguilders.
In fact, some of the most helpful things can be researched, such as getting more EXP from battle, making enemies drop more, learning new spells, and whatnot...again providing you have the Kingsguilders to shell out.
And I hear you becoming curious as to why I keep bringing up Kingsguilders as if they're a bad thing.
Well that's because, in short, they kind of are.
To start off with, Kingsguilders are a currency completely separate from the currency you obtain in-game from all the battles you take part in. You can't trade any of that actual currency for Kingsguilders.
It's a currency that can only be earned gradually over time from the buildings you've produced in your Kingdom. For example, right now I'm at being able to earn 127043 Kingsguilders an hour. And yes, I do mean in real-time hours.
Surely, that's not a bad thing though. Well, actually yes it is. See, there's one tiny condition: The game has to be on and running to earn Kingsguilders. Unlike games like Fable (to where real-estate gold builds up based on actual time on the clock), Ni No Kuni II will just stop when the game is turned off. No build up of gold or anything.
Well, okay, the PS4 allows you to press the HOME button and put the console to sleep, just "suspending" the game...so naturally the game should just let you build them up in the background since the game is still technically running...right?
Again, no. Even that method refuses to let you build up your Kingsguilders...yet for some reason is fine with letting your real-time research (that's right, researching new things can take anywhere between 10 minutes to
70+ minutes real time) finish.
So the only way to build up your Kingsguilders is to have the game up and running the entire time.
Well, alright, that just means that naturally things will be cheaper to make up for it, right?
Again, no. Unless you're traversing through the game and doing sidequests, or just leaving the game on while you do other stuff (which I'm doing as we speak), you're not going to build up a lot of Kingsguilders. Even with what I mentioned I'm getting per hour right now, we're talking that's maybe 30,000 every 20 minutes. To upgrade one building at this point ranges from 9000 to 200,000 depending on the building, and research goes anywhere between 500 for the most basic, to anywhere up to the 10-50 thousand as they get more complex.
Leveling your buildings also increases the price tenfold. A building that was 2500 to get to level 2 is 30,000 to get to level 3, and 60,000 to get to level 4, but a building that was 12,500 to create is 125,000 to get to level 2, and so on.
In short, a lot of hours are sunk just to get the most upgraded Kingdom and all research done. And to be blunt, it's almost an unfair way of padding the game if it turns out the sidequests and siege encounters aren't interesting enough to where you'll want to keep playing.
Speaking of Siege quests, this was an...interesting choice.
So rather than...you know, having a whole army that grows as you gain more support, Ni No Kuni 2 opted for a different system: You get to pick 4 commanders each with their own perks/flaws. Each commander is surrounded by 8 troops of a specific type following their style (aka swords, hammers, guns, bows, etc). You stand in the center, and it basically looks like a box with you in the center (since you have one set of soldiers on each corner of you).
You have commands and special tactics, but most of the siege battle is basically you running in, pressing R1/L1 (which spins around your soldiers slowly until you position them the way you want), and watching them attack the enemy.
This is...interesting on paper, but it's probably right behind the Kingdom Builder as the most unnecessary and somewhat tedious and boring part of the game. There's not an exceptional amount of strategy involved to it, for starters. Aside from making sure your soldiers are attacking an enemy that they're strong against and occasionally hitting buttons to do special attacks, you're mainly just walking as your soldiers will just hit what they want.
The only exception is that you have only a limited amount of Might Points (which you can get more at the beginning temporarily by...what else? Spending Kingsguilders!). Whenever you lose soldiers, destroy a cannon and build one in its place, destroy a siege tower and build one in its place, or use one of those special attacks, you lose might points by the hundreds.
Oh, you can also call for reinforcements if any of your soldiers die, but that also costs Might Points, and you can only have the total 32 soldiers.
However, you can earn some points back every time you neutralize one of the enemy forces (as in, one of their groups).
In most battles, you get basically a paltry 2000 when not boosted, and sometimes you get 5000 as opposed to your enemy normally having a startling amount more. This is even when your Commanders are a higher level than theirs. But as I said, you only can have 32 soldiers at a time (not counting the NPC soldiers that sometimes appear and normally very quickly are killed), whereas your enemies can have as many as want. Heck, most of the battles consist of you destroying all of their units, only for a second (and possibly 3rd+) to be like "Oh yeah, you have to beat me now!"
And naturally, of course, some of the sidequests (including ones to earn a new citizen) require going through this process beyond what the main-story requires. But naturally, there's the caveat of it recommending a level to be at for all your Commanders. For example, the sidequest ones at the moment recommend level 16 or higher, and my highest person just barely hit level 13.
Unless you're playing a level-playing level siege, it's a grind to earn levels...and even with the even-level ones it can take a while. So again, it just becomes a tedious grind.
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Alright, so you've heard me tear apart some of the graphics choices as well as gameplay choices...but what about the story?
Well, the story is...alright so far. It definitely doesn't compare to the first game by far, but it's...eh?
So here's the basic plot so far:
The game starts off with a little bit of a history lesson, hinting at some of the events from the first game while not explicitly stating specifics or names.
Well alright then, and it's done in the style of ancient murals, which is always neat.
But then the game takes a sort of interesting turn right in the beginning story.
Basically, you're the president of some unnamed country (which is VERY obviously supposed to be a representation of the US) on his way to something in a limo. As you're driving by, a fricken missile charges past you, and completely obliterates the city.
While not unscathed, you're still alive and somehow are magically transported away.
Meanwhile in the other world in which the game actually takes place in, a coup is taking place in the Kingdom of Ding Dong Dell. The king's most trusted advisor poisoned the king, staged the coup, and is out to kill the young prince Evan.
Roland (the president from the previous world) appears in front of Evan and somehow aside from being completely alright now has also been lucky enough to somehow turn back his age clock a bit and now looks like his 20s as opposed to his 40s. They escape the castle together and figure out where to go from there.
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So, I'll touch on the basics, then I'm going to go further in depth.
First off, good lord is this on a different note than the first game. Whereas the first game had a pleasant feel to it with that impending undertone (aka Oliver living his normal happy carefree life in his town while the White Witch observed and plotted from a world away), this one starts off with a missile destroying a city, and then jumps into the middle of a coup.
Part of me actually applauds the shift in tone with the sequel, because it starts off a bit darker.
However, part of me also questions why that beginning bit with the missile had to even happen in the first place. It's never built up on, never referenced in the game (at least not so far that I've encountered), and as far as I know nothing ever comes from it.
If anything, the game just had to establish that the character involved was President, and that's why he knows how to lead the young prince into becoming a great king. Every decision he helps Evan make, he has all the experience because he ran a country.
It also feels like a huge cop out to me in one specific area.
To be precise, in the first game there was a lot of in depth lore about how these two worlds were connected. If someone existed in one world, then they also had a counterpart in the other world known as their Soulmate. In fact, in the first game you're constantly going back and forth between these two worlds because a lot of times in order to help one person...you had to go back and help their soulmate in the other world.
In this game, it's 100% purely just one world. The only glimpse you get of the other world is when the city is destroyed by that missile.
So if anything, that introduction felt like they were saying "Now you won't question why you don't visit this world at all!" to the player.
Another problem is that most of the story is incredibly basic, with nods to the first game shoehorned in to make the story more complex.
For example, the basic story is that you're a young king that was forced out of his Kingdom, and has to make a new home elsewhere.
That's really it. I'm not even joking.
But then the makers decided "Hey, you know we should make being a king more difficult. So let's make them have to swear an oath to some giant monster who totally isn't going to go out of control at some point once that oath is basically stolen by some random villain."
Again, not joking.
But then those same makers decided "Well all of those other kings had super cool giant monsters, so how about Evan--who is basically Jesus with how pure and innocent he is--yeah, let's give him a little dinky creature that's basically a fairy from the first game (but we won't call him that outright!), and it's because he'll surprise everyone by suddenly being really powerful at the end!"
I repeat, not even joking.
Next, there's one tidbit that particularly bothers me: the "Curious boy."
So if you played the first game, you'll know about Pea. She's a "ghost" of a little girl that only Oliver can see, and she helps him throughout his journey. She's the one who gave him his first wand and thus propelled his adventure, she's the one who called out to his mother and thus saved him from drowning due to the White Witch's interference with his go-kart car thing. Eventually, she helps even more in depth when the White Witch starts turning everyone into monsters, and at that point she makes herself seen to the others.
Spoiler alert: She turns out to be the child-form of the main antagonist that still clings onto the innocence and purity of herself.
In Ni No Kuni II, we get introduced to the "Curious Boy" who sits with Evan at a table in what appears to be an endless hallway, and they sip tea and talk.
At first you wonder what this sequence is, as it turns out to be a dream the first time around. But before each chapter end, this sequence appears again, with him commenting on the newest event that just happened with Evan.
So far, he's yet to give his name, and is simply known as the "Curious Boy"
But it's incredibly obvious that they're pulling another Child-that-will-end-up-being-the-main-antagonist-in-a-different-form card.
What bothers me about this is that, whereas Pea was at least helpful when she appeared and actually did more to make the story more engaging, "Curious Boy" is there just to be like "Hey, remember that game where we brought in that girl who you just wondered until the end who she really was? WHAT IF WE DID IT AGAIN?!"
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And that brings me to the last bit, which is the overall feel of the game.
So, again, I've yet to complete the game, so these are ongoing thoughts.
However, if I had to describe it in one sentence, it would be "Lovely to look at and listen to, but not incredibly engaging to play."
I say this because aside from a couple of before mentioned things, it's beautiful to look at. Cutscenes are pretty, in game graphics are equally pretty, and overall I love walking through each area and exploring. Likewise, the soundtrack is exceptional, and keeps the same symphonic sounds as the first game. Hydropolis and Goldpaw have some of my favorite songs in the game so far, with the latter especially being a favorite just because of the style they chose (as opposed to the typical "Hey look it's a city on the water" type of song like with what you'd hear with Zora's Domain from the Legend of Zelda franchise).
But the story outside of moments are frightfully dull. I found myself more engaged in wanting to delve more in depth with the story unfolding in Goldpaw and Hydropolis, and I'll most likely feel the same about Broadleaf (the next area I'll be visiting). For Goldpaw: How was a high ranking official able to cheat the system so well and deceive the citizens (aka in Goldpaw)? What did the inside of the Lady Luck statue look like? And for Hydropolis: What would happen to the city once time resumed? How long did they have? How was the city able to survive after the restricting laws were taken away? What exactly was that giant eye aside from just being a "device to spy?"
I was more disappointed that those areas felt more rushed since the protagonist's story mattered the most. And again, the kid is like Jesus. I actually wouldn't be surprised if this was an allegory game, because it almost feels like one (he wants to make the perfect kingdom with no war where everyone is happy, and it's almost thrown at you constantly. Literally the whole game is him getting people to sign a treaty to basically make him King of an entire world that doesn't fight, and everyone is somehow totally cool with this).
Oh. And the whole storybook thing was a little annoying. It's a basically open world game (especially when you get your ship and most likely flying device), there's really no need for it to be like "Narration, narration, CHAPTER 3: THIS IS TOTALLY A STORYBOOK GUYS" only for it to continue slightly where it left off earlier.
Overall...it's not
terrible by any means despite what I've picked apart about it. It has it's bad sides, but overall it's still a
decent game.
It's definitely not in the same field as its predecessor. The original Ni No Kuni had its own innovations which were a bit more subtle in tone, but it had a wonderful and engaging story that had a nice twist right in the center. Along with its beautiful visuals and wonderful soundtrack, the game itself was just a joy to play through because it knew what to focus on and how much attention to give everything.
Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom isn't on that same level. It has engaging elements mostly within its visuals and soundtrack, and sometimes interesting moments in the cities you visit. But it definitely has more tedious moments with its boring and grindy siege wars and Kingdom Builders, as well as its somewhat basic-yet-somehow-unnecessarily-convoluted story.
I dunno, maybe the rest of the game will be better, but unless there's some uber twist (which after reading the plot synopsis, there isn't), then my feelings will be the same as they are right now.
But at this moment, it feels like a great game bogged down by both unneeded mechanics and time-wasters, as well as a story that could have been developed a bit better.
