Ni No Kuni 2 - Review @ TechQuila

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Myrthos

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TechQuila reviewed Ni No Kuni 2, rating it with a total score of 4.2/5.

Japanese RPGs are quite different from their Western counterparts. They tend to be less gory, with a whimsical setting and push the limits of imagination. However, on the down side, they often follow the same old cliches and stick to the tried and tested formula of saving the world while playing as a law abiding, virtuous protagonist, painfully predictable to a fault. Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom is another JRPG that to sticks to that Eastern video game trope, highlighting it’s appeal and at the same time bringing out the flaws.

The game takes place in a world, one where humans aren’t the only sentient beings. You’ve got cat-folk, dog-folk, rat-folk and even fish-folk. For someone not used to the fairy tale setting of JRPGs or childish games in general, it may be hard to take Ni no Kuni II seriously, but if you can get past that it’s fairly entertaining.

Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom follows Evan Tildrum, a young King who is deposed in a coup and looses his closest friend in the aftermath. Now, what is the first thing a ousted ruler would work towards? Getting their throne back and punishing the usurper, right? Evan on the other hand decides that all is well and good and runs off to start a new kingdom of his own where everyone can live in peace and happiness. To further cement his naivety, he names his kingdom Evermore.
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I enjoyed the first Ni No Kuni, but the second one seems to have changed the formula quite a bit. I don't think I would care for the base building aspects which the article said required many fetch quests to do but the main story would not progress without doing them.
They praised the combat, but I would have to see for myself. I liked the first NNK where you had familiars that fought along with you and leveled up and transformed with new abilities. He compared NNK to the modern Tales of games but I haven't played any of those yet.
 
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There are "familiars" in NNK2 too, but the whole thing sucks. See, it's not that the combat system is bad, it's not. But you'll want revive capable companions and "familiars" - not because something is hard but because of stupid grind where you don't have time to afford lost battles as it means more time losing on more grinding. I don't know what were they thinking about while designing the game world, it's just plain annoying revisiting an area because now you can reach a part of the map previously locked by lack of skill and all stupid trashmobs are still there, lurking.
Town building aspect is fun.
Many gaming media and professional critics praised NNK2, some parts definetly deserve it, but some like required grinding should have been panned and not ignored in reviews. Note while developers dared to mix townbuilding/strategy/RPG, the story is yet another coward preacher who is scared of discussing anything in mature way fantasizing about nonexisting mindsets.

I didn't play the first game and unless it gets ported to PC, never will.
 
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There is no 'required grinding' as in, having to fight random battles to beat the game. Hell you can beat the game probably without fighting many battles, combat was that easy, I could button spam to kill enemies 20 levels about my group.

Having said that I didn't really enjoy the game, mostly because it was too easy, the side quests were boring as hell "go to the island of X, enter the cave and kill the mini-boss there" or "get me 3 shrubberies". Only the main storyline was enjoyable. As for the city building, it was ok but the problem again is that to populate the city you had to convince the citizens to join you, which required more of the boring fetch quests.
 
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wolfing said:
There is no 'required grinding' as in, having to fight random battles to beat the game.
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Beat means fastrun the game? Dunno. Perhaps in such case no grind is needed. Can't know that.

But to complete the game aka solving all quests (did it), getting all 100 citizens (did it), maxing the whole city (did it), completing "familiars" collection (didn't do it, couldn't force myself into even more grinding) and nailing all the possible bosses (didn't do it, this requires grinding lover level master and I'm grinding hater) - you must grind your arse more than in mmos.
 
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joxer said:
Beat means fastrun the game? Dunno. Perhaps in such case no grind is needed. Can't know that.

But to complete the game aka solving all quests (did it), getting all 100 citizens (did it), maxing the whole city (did it), completing "familiars" collection (didn't do it, couldn't force myself into even more grinding) and nailing all the possible bosses (didn't do it, this requires grinding lover level master and I'm grinding hater) - you must grind your arse more than in mmos.
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Of course, if you want to complete 100% of the game you need grinding, but that's true for every game I know, I never 100% complete games for that reason, but doing the optional content is not required.
 
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Not every game. In those without endless trashmob respawns if there is any grind, it's minimal. Also, in some it's fixable - thanks to modders who make stuff like norespawn mod for FO4.

The problem with NNK2 is the amount of grind necessary for completing it. Too excessive, irritating, boring and annoying. A dull job being unpaid.
 
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