As disclaimer, I haven’t fully completed Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch yet, as it’s an absolutely massive game. I have, however, made it through a decent chunk of the game, and I believe I can at least begin to delineate my thoughts on the experience so far.
Ni No Kuni is a collaboration between two Japanese studios: game developer Level-5, creator of titles like Dragon Quest VIII and the Professor Layton series, and animator Studio Ghibli, home of Hayao Miyazaki and creator of films such as My Neighbor Totoro and Princess Mononoke. Ultimately, what this means is that Ni No Kuni is a gorgeous game with strong fundamental roots in the JRPG genre.
Ni No Kuni tells the story of a young boy named Oliver, a resident of Motorville with his mother Allie. One day, after an accident, Allie passes away after saving Oliver’s life. Oliver spends three days crying alone in his bedroom when one of his tears lands on a small plush doll his mother gave him years earlier.
The doll comes to life as a fairy named Drippy, who is from another world where everyone in Oliver’s world has a soul counterpart in Drippy’s, a Great Sage known as Alicia. Drippy explains that Alicia has been defeated and captured by someone known as Shadar, a Dark Djinn bent on conquering the world for an enigmatic being called the White Witch. Drippy says that saving Alicia may bring his mother back to life, so Oliver travels to this new world on a quest to save his mother’s counterpart and defeat Shadar.
All of this information is delivered in the first hour or so, and while it may seem dense, once it’s out of the way the narrative is very straightforward and charming. The dynamic between the parallel dimensions is played with on occasion but, at least early on, it doesn’t amount to much.
Ni No Kuni’s real hook is the battle system and the world you are given the freedom to explore. It’s amazing how accurately the phrase “3D Pokemon” describes many of the game’s systems.
Oliver and the companions he gains along his journey are all able to control creatures called familiars, monsters that have been tamed or manifested from their soul, to fight for them. These creatures can level up, learn new abilities, and “metamorphose” into an evolved form, which starts them over at level one but with more ability slots and higher stats. Oliver can also feed them candy or sweets to boost specific statistics based on how the player wants to build their familiars.
Battles play out on an open arena, with size relative to the number or type of enemies being faced. The player can choose which of their characters/familiars will fight first (characters usually have strong spells), and fights occur in real time. Moves are initiated on an action wheel, and choosing an action usually results in a momentary loss of control as the character enacts that action. A few hours into the game, the player unlocks the ability to tame and serenade certain familiars in battle to take them as their own.
For the first couple of hours, Oliver and his familiars fight alone, and as a result fights feel dynamic, since Ollie has to move around to avoid damage and pick up health or mana orbs dropped by Drippy. Boss fights in particular are excellent in the first act of the game, as they become intense battles of attrition where success is more about staying alive while frequently chipping away at the boss’ health rather than going all-out on the attack.
However, once Oliver gains party members, battles immediately start to feel slightly unbalanced, and it only gets worse as the game goes on. Since the game is played in real-time, the player can only control one character at a time, meaning his party members are left under the control of AI. The AI can be given tactics to follow in battle, and these essentially amount to telling party members to use mana or not to use mana.
Telling them to use mana makes it a race; characters will attempt to empty their reserves completely before the battle is over. Telling them not to use it means they only ever use their basic attacks, which do very little damage, and never heal or attempt to take advantage of enemy weaknesses.
In almost every battle following the addition of party members, I felt as though one of my characters was always doing what I specifically didn’t want them to do. There is no tactical option that represents a balance; you can’t tell Esther (your first companion), “Please don’t spend all of your mana, but make sure you don’t die.” They become vital when enemies grow tougher, but they are completely incapable of sustaining themselves. I’d rather Oliver go on his journey alone if it meant that every single battle was as thrilling as the early stuff.
It’s a good thing, then, that the world of “Ni No Kuni” is irresistible. The visual design is the initial hook, but it’s just an amazingly charming, well-done realm to explore. Colors are used expertly to present an inviting world that is fun to explore. The writing and style of the world is painfully cutesy and enjoyable; a cat king deemed “His Meowjesty” resides in the town Ding Dong Dell, where carvings of fish line the sidewalks. Similarly, “Her Moojesty” the Cowlipha rules over the desert settlement Al Mamoon, filled with cowbells and fountains of milk. The unending stream of puns will annoy many, but it totally worked for me.
Finally, the Studio Ghibli animation and design excellently emulate the company’s style in game form. The few 2D-animated cutscenes are of the quality of any modern Ghibli film, but the way the world itself is presented in-game will be enough to satisfy any fan of the studio.
I feel like I’m getting to the point in Ni No Kuni where my lack of skill in this genre will make the game a nightmare to progress through, but I’ve really enjoyed a lot of what I’ve played so far. The lower difficulty options might undo the sins of the AI tactics, but the world will remain as compelling as it was from the first moments. Unfortunately, Ni No Kuni is a game that gets worse as it goes on, but it starts at such an incredibly high point that the end result is still a great game.
