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I've never felt such hype for a game and then lost complete desire to play it before.
I was so excited waiting for it to come out.
Then it did, and I couldn't care less.
I ended up getting it long after release when it hit 19.99 and only because I needed a third game for a buy 2, get 1 sale.
I swore I wouldn't play the demo because I wanted nothing spoiled, but I did play it, and it did nothing for me. Guess that correlates with the "demos = lost sales" thing.
Ni No Kuni doesn't have the most groundbreaking battle system (it's basically a Pokemon ripoff, from what I understand - I've never played a Pokemon besides Snap so idk), and the story is definitely predictable, and OK, maybe a little boring too. I guess I could understand why JRPG purists scoff.
But JESUS CHRIST, those visuals. They're the work of Studio Ghibli, for chrissakes. I also found the characters pretty damn charming.
It's the best JRPG I've played since Final Fantasy XII (note: I play through to completion about one JRPG a year and for example haven't touched Bravely Default though I own it and it's near the top of my pile of shame), and in my top 5 games ever for PS3.
I guess my argument is that for gamers who aren't JRPG sticklers, and haven't hit 100% on every Disaega or whatever, this game is a god send.
And if you deny that it's one of the most beautiful videogames ever made to date, you just don't have any taste whatsoever.
EDIT: If the Souls series counts as JRPG, this definitely isn't my fave since FFXII, but I doubt you sticklers take those badass games into account. Probably too much hand eye coordination involved, I assume? ;)
Level 5's stuff is almost always gorgeous (Rogue Galaxy and Dragon Quest VIII immediately come to mind). I just wish the games measured up to the visuals.
I did really like Dark Cloud 2 and Dragon Quest IX, and Fantasy Life seems fun so far.
Yeah, NnK looks really nice and it's cool if you like it. I'm way more negative about it than I need to be. Maybe one day I'll go back and finish it and like it just like I always do
Awesome. You should finish it up Finch. I reached a point, I think around the desert area, where I thought the game was boring and gave up on it for a few weeks. Then I went back to it and ended up loving it. The second half of the game goes by much quicker than the first half. Also besides completing the main game there's still some really difficult areas and enemies I still can't figure out to this day, if you're into that sort of thing.Quote:
Originally Posted by Finch
It's a phenomenal game. Really one of the best JRPG's I've played in my life. Though, again, that's 90% due to how amazing Ghibli's visual design is throughout.
Just talking about this game makes me want to boot it up again.
What do you dislike about the Tales series? Besides Skies of Arcadia, the Grandia series, the Shadow Heart Series, and the Star Ocean series, it's basically the only JRPG that keeps me awake. I'm playing Tales of Hearts R, on the Vita TV, right now and it's easily in the top 3 of that series. Fantastic game.Quote:
Originally Posted by MechDeus
I've heard Tales of the Abyss is a hidden gem. I need to find the 3DS version.
No you don't.
PS2 rev is better.
If I want kick ass Ghibli visuals, I will watch a kick ass Ghibli film.
I have extremely low tolerance for games that waste my time, whether that's through tedious cutscenes that tell me things I already know, frequently-repeated long and unskippable animations, poor UIs that require way too many button presses to get to commonly-used selections, or forced grinding. Ni No Kuni does all of those things.
For my money, Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky is the best JRPG of the last generation. Well-written dialogue, slick UI, quick battles, no grinding, amazing attention to detail. It can be slow if you choose to talk to every character and do every subquest, but you are never forced to do that. For quite a while I was convinced that I just didn't like JRPGs anymore. I was wrong. I like them WHEN THEY AREN'T TERRIBLE.
The writing and the characters, mostly. They all tend to play out like someone read a TVTropes page about anime and decided that should be the primary foundation of their stories.Quote:
Originally Posted by magnifiedplaid
They are fairly pretty games and the battle system is decent enough, but they don't even seem aware of how boringly cliche they are. I just can't care about any of them.