I finished Ni no Kuni some time ago now. I had decided to hold off until I got the Platinum trophy before writing a review – but then my Playstation had a hissy-fit and I’ve lost most of my save games, and don’t feel like starting again from the beginning any time soon...so I may as well do my review! I was most of the way through the grind trophies, too...bah!
Of course, I was on-board for this game from the start. A console game from Level 5 – of Professor Layton and Inazuma 11 fame – but with design from Ghibli and a very conscious effort to make the game as much like playing a Ghibli film as possible, including music from Joe Hisaishi? Of course I was in.
The game follows adorable little 13-year-old Oliver from ‘Hotroit’ – a pleasant bit of nostalgic Americana – as he is whisked into another world of fantasy, magic, and Pokémon-esque creature-taming. Through some link with his sadly deceased mother, he becomes intertwined with an evil plot to remake the world and rob the people of their hearts. However, with the help of Sage’s daughter Maru, thief with a hidden past Jairo and the latter’s little brother, noble and handsome Lars, plus the strange little fairy Shizuku, Oliver might just have the magical power to defeat the sinister Jairo and even the White Witch herself.
This pleasantly classic tale takes its characters to strange desert industrial cities and frozen polar landscapes, from resorts that mandate everyone wear beachwear to temples that transform all visitors to frogs – to the belly of the giant mother of all fairies. The game does bittersweet extremely well, with not only Oliver’s memories of his mother and the fact that the whole quest on some level is about seeking closure over her death, but the backgrounds of Pea, Jairo and even the witch herself tugging at the heartstrings. Aesthetically, it is also a triumph, looking utterly gorgeous throughout and ably capturing the look of a Ghibli film, with the collectable creatures in particular nodding back to several of the studio’s bestiary.
As a game...it is just about enough fun to justify its prestige. In many ways, the combat is was Pokémon ought to be – you can control each of the characters in your party, and get them to send out one of three creatures to battle for them, which might emphasise strength, speed, defence or healing. They can be levelled up – usually though feeding them endless chocolate bars or cakes – and a bit more challenge is introduced through the need to quickly respond to calls to defend. Perhaps predictably, the game is a touch too easy, and rather too snowball-y – the few times something became a challenge, one of your allies might die and it becomes absurdly harder to win a battle that might be quite easy to manage as three. I found that using a little creature with high speed and an attack buff made life very, very easy.
Getting the trophies was a grind. Catching some of the creatures was far, far too long-winded, as when killed they may or may not be put into a state where they can be caught. This is the sort of thing that puts me off restarting.
On the other hand, the lovely characters, adorable world and refreshingly old-fashioned values mean that if there’s a remake, I’ll certainly put the effort in, and certainly at some point in a few years, I’ll want to do the whole things again.
