05/10/2014 (1 of 1 found this helpful)

Dat Kuni Game

“Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch” (“NNK”) is the latest RPG attempt by developer Level-5, an outfit more well-known for their work on ‘Professor Layton’ series of DS Adventure titles than their work on RPGs. However, Level-5 DID make one of the finest RPGs of the 6th Generation – “Dragon Quest 8” – in collaboration with Square Enix. Unfortunately for fans of that struggling genre, without the help of Square Enix, Level-5 seems far more likely to produce unenjoyable swill than anything resembling a good game. With Namco Bandai taking the place of Square Enix in the development and publishing of “NNK,” I thought Level-5 might be provided the guidance and framework needed to avoid tripping over themselves… but then I remembered that Namco Bandai is responsible ...

Rating of
3/5 

09/14/2013 (2 of 2 found this helpful)

Ni no Kuni: It's Magic

When I first heard that Studio Ghibli (responsible for some of my favorite animated films including Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke) and LEVEL-5 (who worked on the the Professor Layton games) were working on a collaborative RPG, I was immediately hooked. Moreso when I saw how the game was shaping up. Although it's far from perfect, those looking for a decent RPG for this generation should be quite happy with the results. It's a genre that has been neglected (in terms of what would be considered "classic RPGS") and though this is no old-school turn-based game, the spirit is there and it won't leave you hanging.

Presentation: In a word: stunning. You can tell Studio Ghibli had a hand in this as the character design is spot-on and takes inspiration from many of their films from Howl's...

Rating of
4/5