Quick Look: Ni No Kuni II - Revenant Kingdom

I'm excited to play this even though I am one of the ones who very much enjoyed the first one up until I very thoroughly did not when it just sort of kept going on and on.

@mvhvtmv: 2 Ni 2 No 2 Kuni

Toe to tip that's a Lisa.

I played a chunk of the first and would go back to it, but alas I do not have easy access to a PS3. My current stack of games is enormous so I won't be getting this either, most likely.

Extremely frustrating that the 2 JRPGs I most want to play (this and Persona 5) will likely never come to Switch. They'd be so perfect for it!

Is this like Nier Automatia to Nier? It's a sequel but you can also get away with playing it without having played the first?

Awww... I'm such a huge sucker for monster capture mechanics and the removal of that is such a huge bummer for me. Guess I'll wait to grab this when it's around $30 or something. Still looks fine.

I played thru the first one TWICE and loved it sooooomuch. However the absence of Studio Ghibli in this one is a real bummer and makes me hesitant to try it. I will give this one a go but I can't imagine enjoying it as much as the last one. It was really special!

I'm surprised Rorie isn't doing this one.

So, having finished this QL now, first of all, I'll say it's incredibly good. Both entertaining and informative. Can I ask a random side question? If I have the first one but feel kind of lazy about hooking up my PS3, is it good enough to warrant doing so? I don't mind grinding per se, as long as it isn't TOO insane.

@sethmode: The grinding isn't necessarily the issue, the AI of your companions makes the combat unbearable though. I hope you enjoy companions burning all their mana and healing you with their mega useful heals when you have taken a sliver of damage!

@cheesebob: Well that sounds...not fun haha. Thanks duder!

Studio Ghibli is not involved but the creator of music and animation is from the previous game if I am not mistaken and still heavy influenced by it, still the music is kinda on the weaker side in this game that is a shame. Ghibli movies is half the greatness from the music alone.

Seems like they traded style for gameplay which is probably a good thing for a video game, but man this just doesn't strike me visually like what i saw of the first one did. Could just be the generation gap as i haven't actually played either.

I am also not getting that wow factor but I'm not really sure if I can blame the game on that or if it's just a trick you can't repeat very well. Reminds me of the recent South Park games when it was very impressive the first time a game just looked like an episode of the show and then the next time just felt like..well it still looks like that and that's Cool I guess.

Buffing up the gameplay is 100% the thing a sequel to Ni No Kuni had to do though.

Constructive criticism; please don't read in a "asshole guy" mental voice because that's not how I'm writing it:

I support GB because I think you often provide a better and more educated standard of discourse than abundantly available free YouTube poop. I would be even happier with your content if you educated yourselves on basic things like what platforms a game is available on, how much it costs, roughly how long it is (where possible!), and so on, prior to discussing it. This has been a pet peeve of mine since I found the site like 5 years ago.

You're already going to discuss and showcase the game for 30+ minutes. By comparison, it's not a crazy time expenditure to take 30 seconds to check Wikipedia and howlongtobeat.com (where possible!) prior to hitting record so you know the game's vital stats. I wouldn't want to even guess how many times someone has said during a quick look, "I think I'm about half-way" or "I feel like it's probably around [x] hours long" and I've found this to be completely misinformed.

If you say a game is only on PS4, then Xbox-only, PC-only, and Nintendo-only people can decide whether they want to listen to your commentary or move on to something more relevant to them. If you say a game is $10, it calibrates expectations to be more reasonable than if it's $30 or $60. If you say you feel like you're about half-way through a $30 game you've played for 2 hours, but you're not yet aware that you're actually still in the tutorial area, it's worse than giving no information at all. This has happened multiple times that I've been aware of.

For example: Into The Breach is a steal at $15 but it would be an insult at $60 with store-exclusive DLC and a $700 collector's edition with an iconic Riftwalkers hat and includes a single-use code which unlocks a fifth island.

Thank you for definitely not reading this in Asshole Guy Mental Voice.

I'm not sure if Abby just didn't pay attention or what, but they explain exactly why that dude has a pistol literally in the first 5 minutes of the game. Like, it's the openins scene.

You've come to this conclusion how, exactly?

In the first 30 minutes or so,

New York equivelnt blows up, there's a coup, the kid finds out his father was poisoned, his friend/caretaker dies in his arms, and he's being hunted by the kingdom.

@vicious17: I don't think she is at all confused as to WHY he has it, it just felt very weird to be introduced to this encounter with Mouse Knights and the first thing to happen is modern dude pulls a 9mm on them.

Man I've been waiting for this for 5 years now.

Loved the first game and this looks like an improvement in every way.

The first 10 minutes of this game contain some of the most batshit crazy narrative elements I've seen in video games, and I've played Metal Gear.

@roarawr: Ah thats probably it, I mustve misremembered the details. I've payed zero attention to anything regarding Nino kuni 2 until I saw Electric Playground Live last week and they had an interview with a guy from the localization team where they mentioned that. (so if anyone's interested, just look up last weeks 'EP live' on youtube)

i feel like they are speaking in gibberish

I thought so too, but after playing it and seeing it in action, I realize that I was entirely wrong. The game is gorgeous on PC, and very easy to run at max settings as well.

Jibbly.

@shiftyaxel: That's actually the correct pronunciation.

That was a very well done Quick Look! Congrats to the team for the chemistry, but I'd like to give additional praise to Abby. She's been on the receiving end of a lot of criticism, and I think this, and 'Thirteen Deadly Sims", are great examples of the fantastic work she is capable of.

(Please forgive my racist handle. It's very old, and I need to follow up with Rorie about getting it changed. It turns out you shouldn't name accounts in communities that you want to be a long-term part of after drunkenly watching 'Team America: World Police')

I watched this QL yesterday and I'm still laughing at Vinny around 3:17, "Hey, what's going on there? Oh, he's backwards." Pretty sure we both had the same thought for a moment.

Ni No Kuni is one of the games in my past that I most regret not finishing. I keep saying I want to find a good Let's Play of it with someone who isn't annoying to watch play so I can see the rest of the game. I know I'll never go back to it now, but that game was great. I loved the art and the characters, I just fell off at one point when I was faced with a ton of grinding. Also, I'm not a fan of turn based combat, etc. in JRPGs. But the world was so wonderful, I really regret not finishing it. I think the last thing I remember is something about sky pirates and maybe having to do something with a dragon? Like ride it somewhere?

I was really bummed when Level-5 didn't announce Dark Cloud 3 back when they revealed this was their next game, but I'm really enjoying it so far. I'm about 20 hrs in and it kind of feels like a greatest hits of stuff they've done in the past. I'm getting a strong Rogue Galaxy vibe from a lot of the gameplay systems that they've introduced so far. Plus, there's a little bit of Suikoden (not a Level-5 joint) in the kingdom building/recruitment stuff. Always a good time!

@lestephan: Joe Hisaishi does the music, and he scored most of Miyazaki’s movies as well

Oh God! Abby played this?! Out the window goes the story...

So far I'm pretty disappointed in this game, and I have generally liked past Level-5 RPGs. One review described it as being unfocused and that is how I feel about it. It is also far too simple and it tries to cram in a bunch of different systems but none of them are complex enough to where they actually become engaging. The kingdom building aspect in particular is such a disappointment when you think about the fact that Level-5 made Dark Cloud 2. It feels like a clicker game and you can't even run around in the town in third person.

Wow, not liking Roland and liking Evan is the exact opposite for me. (I do not dislike Evan, but pretty much every other character seems more interesting. Roland's background alone is crazy.)

WHAT THE FLIP

was that a professor blastoff reference?!?!??!

Who wants to join my scaramoosh?

....

Registrations are now closed. Thank you for your time.

Finally out on the box