Ni no kuni: Wrath of the white witch PS3 / Ni no kuni: The jet black mage DS

[mugetsu]

western release delayed til early next year and right after they released the english trailer to

[randombs]

Exactly. Who knows what I'll be into by Q1 2013? Right now I'm in Ghibli mode!

[importaku]

Sounds like they are dubbing it then if it's been delayed by that long, as long as they treat the localisation with respect it will be wprth the wait trust me. It was my game of 2011.

[randombs]

The trailer I saw was in English...

[mugetsu]

yeah eng dub in the trailer and actually pretty decent sounding to.

[importaku]

After watching Ghibli's new film on Friday I decided I want to get this. In terms of J-Skillz, I've been managing fine with JP Shenmue in Children Mode(plus I already played it in English so know the plot) but am hoping the Japanese in this should be straightforward.

Not sure whether to get this or the DS one, though. I noticed you recommended getting both for the complete story but I find it strange that a game made for two completely different platforms by competing companies would do something like that. But seeing as I'm pondering getting shot of my DS, maybe I should stick with the PS3 one?

Also, worried about it being an RPG. I'm rubbish with RPGs and have a habit of not finishing them



lol I wanted to get Yakuza on PS2 and hilariously hoped it would have a Children Mode despite being an 18

They could've put an Adult Foreigner Mode in, though!

Out of the 2 games the ps3 version is the easier of the 2 as the ds one heavily relies on the book for a lot of the riddles, the ps3 version doesn't as much. All the kanji in both games has kana readings above so a lot easier to understand, the only Japanese you might struggle with is what Shizuku says as it's in Osaka ben most of the time. It's not too hard if you take time to level up, the game is great in that respect as the battles are not random so you can avoid monsters if you want but if you are weaker than them they will run towards you. As you level up the reverse will start to happen, you'll know your strong enough when the monsters in the area your in run off from you when you try to approach them. Your also shown where to go next & told your current quest objective so you shouldnt get too lost.

The hard part now is deciding weither to cave in & go import or wait till next year, the one thingthat might put you off is the ps3 version is not cheap on import. In fact most new ps3 stuff on import is rocking at the ?60 mark on play asia.

[randombs]

Someone in the UK is selling it nearly-new on eBay for ?35. I might hold out for a while and finish the games I'm playing then decide. Cheers for the info. Osakaben sounds like fun

[Guts]

Woohoo! Demo of Ni No Kuni will be available on PSN next wednesday! It will contain two levels and two boss battles.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-12-03-ni-no-kuni-ps3-demo-confirmed-for-us-this-week-eu-tbc

I so hope this game will bring back the glory days of JRPGs.

Edit: Whoops, was supposed to post this in Headlines.

[Synthesthesia]

Just played the first of the 2 options in the demo. Looks incredible, and I enjoyed what I played. Really looking forward to it now. Kind of reminds me of a mix of tales style gameplay with turn based (I don't think tales stops when you select a skill?).

[Golgo]

Tried the demo. Really does feel like a classic old-school Japanese RPG, without the random battles though thankfully. Lovely clean interface and menus, charming characters. Definitely going to be purchasing at some point, if not necessarily on day one. Best thing was that you can choose the Japanese voice-track, which saves having to put up with that dreadful professional hwnto Rhod Gilbert as the lamp-nosed mini-monster thing (still have the Welsh colloquialisms in the text, though).

[Briareos]

Loved the look of the demo but didn't really have much idea what i was doing with regards to switching characters and didn't know how to heal. Were there instructions hidden somewhere or was it the sink or swim approach to demos?

[importaku]

You heal using items or later on you learn the capacity to heal using magic.

[Guts]

I found out that the boy (Oliver?) was much stronger than the little familiar. I first tried the forest boss with the familiar and got whacked and then tried again with the kid and won easily with his spells. Also, you can move on the battlefield to avoid getting hit. At first I didn't even realise it so I just stood there and got my a*** kicked.

[importaku]

Some enemies will be harder to beat with oliver as they are more resistant to his magic, the imagines you raise can turn the tide of a battle depending on their elemental alignment. A la pokemon.

Each boss has a specific way of getting the chance time to appear, during that time you can get loads of free hits in. Not sure if the demo has the shift phases in where you can press a button & have everyone go into defence mode or attack mode. Really useful when a boss is about to unleash a devastating attack.

[Guts]

Yes, there was the "defense" option to avoid the Forest Guardian's special attack.