I watched the quick look and listened to the Bombcast and I find it funny how they keep trying to find PS2 games to compare this to and Brad keeps mentioning that this is the best localization he's seen where the characters have a lot of personality and I haven't heard anyone mention Dragon Quest VIII. One of them had to have played it, right? Who reviewed it for Gamespot?

Brad even listed 3 or 4 other Level 5 games, but completely missed it. The design of the world and the GUI elements alone instantly reminded me of the game and I remember people having the same reaction to Yangus's voice actor that Brad is having to the fairy king guy.

I don't know, it just seemed funny to me. DQVIII was probably my most memorable JRPG experience ever and if this game is anything like it, I'd love to play it. Too bad it's only on PS3.

God that was a fucking GREAt game - not just a great Dragon quest game, but a genuinely brilliant RPG, had to go dig out my ps2 copy when you mentioned it. you monster.

That was my favorite PS2 game, and my favorite game ever. It was perfect in nearly aspect. It had a hidden ending, a completely optional super-mega-immafuckyouup boss battle that went on and on and on and on. And then there was the monster battles where you can build your team of monsters to fight other teams of monsters. I see a lot of that in this game, in all of the best ways.
 
I'm not going to lie, and this may be me being blinded by my nostalgia, but I think Ni No Kuni COULD very well be one of the best games I've ever played. It incites memories of Dragon Quest VIII and that game could do no wrong, just like this game hopefully won't, and certainly hasn't yet.
 
But the game has tons of personality. From the monsters you can obtain to the characters in your immediate surroundings. It's really challenging too, which, considering Level 5's recent track record of making games that are waaaaay too easy, this is a welcome addition. It's the first game I've seen in a while that says, okay, sit around and start doing stuff, instead of doing what other games do and saying "FUCKING KILL THE BOSS ERFRRRAAAAAAAAGH MONSTERS RRRGAAAAAAA". It's so good.

I love that game so much and I really wish they'd either upres it to HD or at least put it out as a PS2 Classic on PSN. The localization on it was some of the best I've ever seen. The original Japanese release had a MIDI soundtrack and no voice acting but other territory releases had a fully orchestrated soundtrack and great voice work. I WANT TO PLAY IT AGAIN SO BAD!

@N7 said:

And then there was the monster battles where you can build your team of monsters to fight other teams of monsters.

That's another thing I found amusing when Brad kept talking about the Pokemon elements in the game.

Yeah, I have a feeling the only reason why they are even covering this game is because there's literally nothing coming out right now. Otherwise, they would have just ignored it as they did with Xenoblade and Last Story.

@DoctorWelch said:

Yeah, I have a feeling the only reason why they are even covering this game is because there's literally nothing coming out right now. Otherwise, they would have just ignored it as they did with Xenoblade and Last Story.

I don't know about that. Brad seemed legitimately enthusiastic about the game.

I doubt Brad has played it, none of the guys are particuarly into JRPGS. If I recall he reviewed DQ7 for Gamespot though.
 
DQ8 is one of my all time favourite games too, it has so much charm and the whole thing feels like an adventure. Really looking forward to play Ni No Kuni next week. Though it's a shame they didn't create a massive to scale overworld like in DQ8. Running through the fields/forests to get to the next town as it turns to night is so great.

I could go for an HD remake of DQ8.

@DoctorWelch said:

Yeah, I have a feeling the only reason why they are even covering this game is because there's literally nothing coming out right now. Otherwise, they would have just ignored it as they did with Xenoblade and Last Story.

They at least did a QL for Xenoblade. Personal interest is what is driving Brad I think, he said he would have put down Ni no Kuni if it didn't get more interesting for him and it eventually did.

Ni No Kuni should be showing up in the mail for me today. If it's half as good as Dragon Quest VIII I'll be leaping for joy. I beat DQ VIII last year for the first time, and haven't been able to find a suitable followup. I tried Dark Cloud 2, Rouge Galaxy, and Radiata Stories, but none of them came close to matching DQ VIII.

I bought Ni No Kuni solely because it reminded me of Dragon Quest VIII. Man, what a game.

@N7 said:

And then there was the monster battles where you can build your team of monsters to fight other teams of monsters.

That's another thing I found amusing when Brad kept talking about the Pokemon elements in the game.

Man I bought that last year and I haven't popped it in yet, it really looks cool though. I guess after Ni No Kuni... if I ever beat it.

I also love DQVlll, and I've noticed that alot of people don't make that connection. Maybe because the Dragon Quest name just kind of brings the Square brand to mind, Level–5's involvement sort of gets forgotten.

@Zeik: @dungbootle: No, I know. I'm saying that he may have actually liked one of the many other JRPGs that have come out recently, it's simply the fact that there was other stuff to play at that time. Whereas now there's nothing coming out and it turns out he actually likes it because he gave it a shot. The point of my statement was more that the GB guys shouldn't just write these kinds of games off because they've been burned in the past. There are definitely still some great JRPGs coming out.

I just looked and the review was by Bethany Massimilla. I'm starting to think no one at Giant Bomb has played this awesome game. Or do I remember Ryan making a puff-puff room joke at some point?

I know they hate people suggesting future Endurance Runs, but DQVIII would make a good candidate if they ever did one.

@DoctorWelch:

sorry but no, im calling it, Ni No Kuni will be the ChronoTrigger of this generation.

(Xenoblade and Last Story was great....but nothing special unlike Ni No Mila Kunis)

@MmaFanQc said:

@DoctorWelch:

sorry but no, im calling it, Ni No Kuni will be the ChronoTrigger of this generation.

The game is really hard not to love, especially if you find Ghibli (or, specifically, Miyazaki's) stuff completely endearing. This could be my favourite JRPG ever (although, I tend to dislike the genre immensely).

huh I have DQ8 lying around somewhere, didn't know it was good.

I should try it out sometime.

if you guys want to play this in HD just use the psx2 emulator. I've been using it for all of mine old PS2 games. cell shaded games looks awesome at 1080p. If you load the disc img to your hard drive load time also non existence. I know this is a gray area but I see nothing wrong with it if you already own a ps2 and the game, and save state makes playing through older rpg again a much more pleasant experience

@MmaFanQc said:

@DoctorWelch:

sorry but no, im calling it, Ni No Kuni will be the ChronoTrigger of this generation.

(Xenoblade and Last Story was great....but nothing special unlike Ni No Mila Kunis)

Absolutely not.

@kishinfoulux said:

@MmaFanQc said:

@DoctorWelch:

sorry but no, im calling it, Ni No Kuni will be the ChronoTrigger of this generation.

(Xenoblade and Last Story was great....but nothing special unlike Ni No Mila Kunis)

Absolutely not.

whateva brah!

the best comparison i can come up with is rogue galaxy, the quality is on par with that.

it has the trappings of dragon quest 8 but the battle system, inventory system, and everything else like the minimap all are reminiscent of rogue galaxy.

I've had DQ8 sitting on my shelf forever. I need to get around playing it.

I'm playing though it right now and loving it so far.

I really liked DQVIII right up until the point where I realized I would have to do like 5 hours of grinding just to make any progress. I guess the JRPGs I like make grinding fun (Persona, Xenoblade, even some FF games) while the ones I enjoy but wish I could love more make it kind of a drag (DQ VIII, Dark Cloud, even some FF games). This has inspired me to give DQ VIII another try once I work my way through FES (for real this time, I'll get over not having direct party control, I promise!).

Really want to pick up Ni No Kuni, but think I may end up waiting for a sale on it because I have so many other things I'm playing right now.

DQ8 is the only Dragon Quest game that's vaguely playable by non-DQ fans. Ragazzo. But yes it seems to be along those lines (albeit Rogue Galaxy seems a more apt comparison).

@DoctorWelch said:

Yeah, I have a feeling the only reason why they are even covering this game is because there's literally nothing coming out right now. Otherwise, they would have just ignored it as they did with Xenoblade and Last Story.

Pretty much. They have a tendency to turn a blind eye toward PS3.

@kishinfoulux said:

@MmaFanQc said:

@DoctorWelch:

sorry but no, im calling it, Ni No Kuni will be the ChronoTrigger of this generation.

(Xenoblade and Last Story was great....but nothing special unlike Ni No Mila Kunis)

Absolutely not.

If any game game was close it was Xenoblade.