I haven’t played a JRPG for some time, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t want to. I skipped FFXIII because it just didn’t look like the type of game that I wanted to play at the time. Then, after hearing all the bad about it, I decided to not give it a try. I still haven’t played it and have no plans. So, what happened to my once strong love of JRPGs? I just don’t think most of them live up to the higher standards that modern games achieve now.

Now we have Ni no Kuni. Produced by Level 5 in collaboration with Ghibili Studios. From what I’ve heard this seems to be a good marriage of the two. I love Ghibili Studio films, even though I don’t particularly like anime. Ghibili studio films just seem to add the depth, heart, mystery, and fantasy that Pixar has to traditional animated films - something Disney films never had was the originality in their fantasy and storytelling that Ghibili Studios and Pixar found (in different ways of course, but still they set themselves above Disney in this way).

A Ghibili Studio co-produced game excited me a lot. I almost ran right out to buy it, but instead waited to see the review and the quick look instead. Initial reviews are favorable and the quick look showed a game that I could probably get into.

HOWEVER, I don’t think I can play the game. And, for a very strange reason. During the quick look, at the part where the the little stuffed animal comes to life, I couldn’t get over the damn lantern pierced to its nose... You know that feeling you get when something is floating near your eyes or just in front of your nose? I started to get that uncomfortable sensation, and it wouldn’t go away. No, it actually kept growing stronger as the scene unfolded. It got to the point that I started getting nauseated and kept yelling out, get that thing off your damn face!!!

I tried watching it again a little later, but with the same result. I don’t think I can do it. I don’t think I will be able to play this game. I’m disappointed that I physically won’t be able to play a game that I’ve been looking forward to for such a strange reason. I don’t fault the artists; it seems like a simple enough anime troupe to put a strange piercing in a strange place, but it just ruined the game for me... Oh well, I’ll have to find something else to play until the big games start to come out in March. I still haven’t played Giant Bomb’s game of the year, XCOM yet, maybe I’ll play that instead. Any aliens with strange, overly-large nose piercings in XCOM?