Ni no Kuni - Released

Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch Remastered has been released on Steam:

Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch Remastered

REMASTERED VISUALS
Improved graphics and performance on Steam

ALL-STAR PRODUCTION
LEVEL-5's mastery of the RPG genre is combined with Studio Ghibli's world-class animation and music composed by the renowned Joe Hisaishi

CAPTIVATING STORY
A charming yet tragic tale unfolds through the use of animation storyboarded and created by Studio Ghibli with English and Japanese voice-overs

ROLE-PLAYING MASTERY
A rich mixture of familiar RPG elements, expertly crafted and designed, and featuring dozens of locations to explore, hundreds of creatures to battle, and a wealth of quests and secrets to uncover

DYNAMIC COMBAT
Switch freely between characters and familiars in an exciting battle system that combines real-time and turn-based tactical elements

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Journey back to the other world in Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch(tm) Remastered. LEVEL-5's classic tale returns better than ever, with improved graphics and performance. Join Oliver as he embarks on an adventure through a world inhabited by new friends and ferocious foes alike in the hopes of bringing back his mother after a tragic incident.

This charming tale unfolds through the use of animation storyboarded and created by the legendary Studio Ghibli and music composed by the renowned Joe Hisaishi. Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch(tm) combines beautiful animated visuals, masterful storytelling, and a sweeping score to create an epic role-playing adventure like no other.

More information.

Just started it and it was instaWTF:



Of course I've set inventory to I and map to M.
Oh yea, default audio is set to english so I had to change that to the original too.

Here's the middlefinger to the publisher.

EDIT:

Damn the stupid idiocy. Inventory aka I I had to move to TAB. It's not inventory really, it's the main menu!
What a moronic publisher.

For a port you should be happy they let you remap the keys.

Originally Posted by joxer
Just started it and it was instaWTF:



Of course I've set inventory to I and map to M.
Oh yea, default audio is set to english so I had to change that to the original too.

Here's the middlefinger to the publisher.

EDIT:

Damn the stupid idiocy. Inventory aka I I had to move to TAB. It's not inventory really, it's the main menu!
What a moronic publisher.

8 hours in. So far:

animation+music+original voiceover = superb

story = generally meh but has some fantastic characters (an example: master sage knows if you're behind him and his comments are top notch)

puzzles = not many, but so far were awsome

the rest of the game = so far barely bearable grind-o-rama where the grind is mandatory to progress anywhere unlike the sequel


In one sentence my early impression what this game is?
Shiny package sells the bullshit pokemon.
Unless the amount of grind doesn't drop soon, I'll have to suggest not buying.

Originally Posted by joxer
8 hours in. So far:

animation+music+original voiceover = superb

story = generally meh but has some fantastic characters (an example: master sage knows if you're behind him and his comments are top notch)

puzzles = not many, but so far were awsome

the rest of the game = so far barely bearable grind-o-rama where the grind is mandatory to progress anywhere unlike the sequel


In one sentence my early impression what this game is?
Shiny package sells the bullshit pokemon.
Unless the amount of grind doesn't drop soon, I'll have to suggest not buying.

Personally didnt find it extremely grindy until I let my pokemonsters to evolve. Then I had to level them up again. That was unbearable to me.

It's not just the pokemon evolving.

Some sidequests are mats collecting, but since you've grinded all over the map you'll have those in some cases. In others you need to regrind back and kill trashmobs in a specific way to collect a number of quest items, that number is never just 1 (freeze before kill, blind before kill, etc).

Then there is a recurring questgiver who wants you to tame specific trashmobs. To tame anything you need to grind trashmobs over and over till finally you tame one, and usually that won't be the species this questgiver wants!

Outside of sidequesting, taming is needed to get yourself the best pokemon. One of these best pokemon is Hooray trashmob (for the girl). I've killed like 30 of those at sea yet didn't manage to tame a single one.
Luckily, this PC version gives a redeemable ticket that grants you Griffy at a certain point which is an absolute monster of a pokemon and his damage output is like 4 times higher than from the rest I've collected.

Won't be editing my steam minireview just yet, but honestly, I don't remember the last time I played a game with so much grind. This game puts all mmos to shame when it comes to grind.
Seriously, so far, Dragon's Dogma is a kitten compared to NNK1. The necessary NNK1 grind pwns even Dragon Age: Hinterlands instarespawns. I have no idea if this will continue to the game's end.