Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

Overview

Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch (Japanese: 二ノ国 白き聖灰の女王, Ni no Kuni: Shiroki Seihai no Joō, lit. Second Country: The Queen of White Sacred Ash) is a role-playing game developed and published by Level-5 in collaboration with world-famous animation company Studio Ghibli. The game puts the player in the role of Oliver, a 13 year-old boy who, after his mother's death, is transported to a parallel world, and goes on a quest to bring her back to life.

The game is a follow up to Level-5 and Studio Ghibli's first collaboration, Ni no Kuni: Shikoku no Madoshi for the Nintendo DS.

Re-releases

On September 20th, 2019 the game was re-released on the Nintendo Switch. Also on September 20th the game was released on the PlayStation 4 and PC with updated visuals and performance as Ni no Kuni Wrath of the White Witch Remastered.

Story

Ni no Kuni follows the journey of Oliver, a resident of Motorville. While trying out a new vehicle designed by his friend Philip, Oliver almost drowns but is saved by his mother Allie; however, she immediately dies from heart problems after saving him. As Oliver cries, his tears cause his doll, a gift from his mother, to come to life and reveal itself as a fairy named Drippy, who tells Oliver that he is from another world where an evil wizard named Shadar took control. He also tells Oliver that each person from his world has a "soulmate," a person that shares a link with someone in Oliver's world, and that his mother looks very much like a great sage, Alicia, who was captured by Shadar. Realizing that Alicia must have been Allie's soulmate, Oliver sets out with Drippy to travel to the other world and rescue Alicia hoping that doing so will bring Allie back into his world.

In the other world, Oliver finds a multitude of broken-hearted people affected by Shadar, and uses his new-found magic abilities to restore those pieces of heart which they lack, and travels the world to seek out the four great sages who may be able to help. Along the way, he meets Esther, daughter of one of the great sages, and Swaine, a thief who initially steals an essential item from them but ultimately decides to help. As they enlist the sages' help, they learn of a wand known as Mornstar that could be used to defeat Shadar but are at a loss about how to retrieve it, as Shadar recently destroyed it. Soon after, they find themselves many years in the past by a stranger's actions and can retrieve the wand there.

After returning to the present and retrieving three magical stones to complete the wand, Oliver learns that his mother, Allie, was, in fact, the great sage, Alicia. Realizing she could not defeat Shadar and that he had destroyed his soulmate in the other world to avoid the possibility of being defeated through them, she chose to travel into both the future and into Oliver's world in the hopes of finding his next soulmate; after settling into this new world, she eventually gave birth to her son, Oliver, who unknowingly became Shadar's soulmate. After he is defeated, Shadar's past is shown. He was once a soldier who helped a young girl against orders and whose hometown was destroyed to set an example; a being known as the White Witch called to him to embrace his despair and become the Dark Djinn, Shadar. The spirit of Alicia talks to the dying Shadar, who realizes that the girl he saved was the young Alicia herself. Shadar then uses his power to sever the link between himself and Oliver to save Oliver from dying.

With Shadar defeated, Oliver prepares to return home, but the White Witch appears and casts a spell known as "manna," an ash-like substance that turns all living beings in the three major cities into undead-like creatures. Pea, who has been appearing to Oliver on occasion, travels with the group and uses her magic to clear the cities of manna and restore the people to normal; the group then travels to defeat the White Witch herself. They discover that she was a young queen called Cassiopeia from thousands of years ago who had noble intentions but was manipulated by her "council of twelve," calling themselves the Zodiarchs, who desired to run the country. Feeling powerless, she found and used the manna spell, believing it would bring peace and prosperity to her people. When the horrific effects of manna were revealed, she gradually witnessed the death of all of her subjects, including the council, and found herself on her own; she was gradually driven to despair and became the White Witch, believing that all life must be destroyed in an attempt to "start over." Her power created an illusory version of the council to oversee the destruction of the world. The remains of her kind intentions also created Pea, the incarnation of her as a child, to help Oliver on his journey. Pea was sent to Motorville by the spirit of the Wizard King, Cassiopeia's father, to give Oliver his starting wand and teach him gateway so he could eventually save Cassiopeia/The White Witch from herself.

Having been defeated, Cassiopeia fuses with Pea and is restored to her former, kind self. After assisting the group in destroying the Zodiarchy, the last manifestation of the council, Cassiopeia declares that she will dedicate her life to making amends for her actions. Oliver bids farewell to his friends before returning to his old life in Motorville.

Gameplay

Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch is a role-playing game. Players take control of the protagonist, Oliver, to explore the world. Oliver can move around towns and cities, interacting with different characters. Players explore the game's large world on an over-world map, similar to those found in older RPGs.

Enemies wander around the world, and battles are initiated when the player comes into contact with them. Combat is played out in real-time, with a meter that must fill for the player to perform an action (similar to the active-time battle system of Final Fantasy). Central to the combat are the creature-like avatars, or "familiars," which the player can summon in combat to assist them.

Familiars

In combat, the player can opt to do battle with Oliver’s own wizarding skills, or have him summon a familiar to the fore to do battle for him. Familiars share the same health and mana bar as Oliver and as a result cannot be relied on as fodder for strong attacks in place of Oliver himself as should a familiar die, Oliver will die too.

However familiars have varied stats and resistances that can make them more useful depending on an enemy’s strengths and weaknesses and knowing which to use when is the key to success in Ni No Kuni’s battle system. A single familiar cannot be used overlong in one fight however because of the game’s stamina system. Once a familiar is summoned, its stamina will drain until it must be switched out to recharge.

Familiars have their own abilities known as ‘tricks’ that are unique to them as well as their own equipment and accessories.

Close attention must also be paid to the ‘creature cage’ in which familiars can be fed treats to increase desired stats. Once a familiar reaches a certain level, it is also possible to change their form completely via ‘metamorphosis’ which will start them back at level 1, but with increased potential for stat gains and new tricks to learn.

Alchemy

During his adventure Oliver will, with the help of a friend, learn the art of alchemy, allowing him to combine base ingredients with powerful results.

Two forms of alchemizing are available. The first can be accomplished by following formulae given to Oliver when talking to various unassuming citizens of towns that can easily be missed. Care should be taken to talk to all citizens once the player has been introduced to alchemy.

Second, the player can ‘mix and match’ by picking base ingredients from Oliver’s inventory and either hoping for a result, or knowing an exact recipe beforehand that will always produced a desired item. Such recipes can be found in the wizard’s companion, among other places.

Release and Pre-Order Information

Ni no Kuni was released in North America on January 22nd, 2013, exclusively for the PlayStation 3. In addition to having a collector's edition known as the “Wizards Edition," two retailers offered pre-order bonuses.

• Amazon offered the “Griffy” familiar to be used in game.
• Gamestop gave their customers an alternate metal game case with new art.

However, if you were lucky enough to have gotten to pre-order the “Wizards Edition” you will be granted a treasure trove of extras. Level-5 adopted a tiered approach to offering awards in the “Wizards Edition,” where if more people pre-ordered, the more stuff everyone would receive at no additional cost. The “Wizards Edition” is as of now sold out and therefore all of the tiers of extras have been unlocked. Included therein...

• A Copy of Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
• A 340 Page Hardcover book, which is a replica of the in-game spell-book known as The Wizards Companion, that contains a complete bestiary, description of Items, Spells, and a background of the world's history.
• An Exclusive Coin
• Two audio tracks from the Official Game Soundtrack
• A plush doll of Oliver's in game companion Drippy
• Two Exclusive Familiars: Golden Mite and Golden Drongo
• Set of 5 Ni no Kuni artwork cards

The "Wizards Edition" was only offered on the Namco Store online and no more will be manufactured. Namco's "Wizards Edition" was oversold; however, those that reserved a copy and received a cancellation will receive a free copy of the collectors edition strategy guide.

The game wasn't the only thing you could gotten extras for, had you pre-ordered. If you had pre-ordered the collector's edition strategy guide, you would have been rewarded the Golden Hurley familiar to be used in-game.

Soundtrack

The original soundtrack was composed by Joe Hisaishi. A special music selection CD containing two audio tracks was included in the collector's edition of the game, the complete soundtrack is available for purchase at the Wayô Shop website

Disk 1

Disk 2

DLC

Draggle Familiar - On 2/12/2013 Bandai Namco released free DLC that allowed players to get a hold of an in game ticket that upon redemption awarded the player with the previously unobtainable "Draggle" familiar.

From the EU PSN store a Gold Hurley familiar can also be downloaded for free which is similar to the regular Hurley familiar with slightly different tricks to learn.

DLC and pre-order familiar tickets can be redeemed at the temple of trials once Oliver has participated in said trials.

System Requirements

PC (Remastered)