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

[importaku]

The demo sounds like it's a bit random, guess they just want to give a bit of a taste without explaining too much. I can assure that it will all make sense in the full version everything is explained in detail, theres a lot to the imagine raising & item creation.

Still rank this one of the best rpgs i have played in quite a few years.

[Golgo]

I found the controls, spells, items, combat etc. perfectly straightforward. L1 to switch 'combatant', D-pad to choose action, left stick to run about. Plus old bell-nose shouting instructions to 'defend' and that. Splatted that forest boss on first try. Maybe I have teh madskillz. Does it provide a good challenge Importaku, or is it a kiddie RPG?

[Briareos]

I must admit I died on both Bosses so I think I must lack the mad skills! Lovely look and feel to the game so it's definitely going on the list, for whenever it comes out.

[importaku]

I found the controls, spells, items, combat etc. perfectly straightforward. L1 to switch 'combatant', D-pad to choose action, left stick to run about. Plus old bell-nose shouting instructions to 'defend' and that. Splatted that forest boss on first try. Maybe I have teh madskillz. Does it provide a good challenge Importaku, or is it a kiddie RPG?

Trust me on later quests & bosses you will get your ass handed to you, the bosses in the demo are from right at the beginning of the game later on some of them are really hard. The last boss requires you to be pretty well levelled or you will get destroyed, thankfully because i spent so long playing & levelling up i stood a decent chance against it. However you will need a lot of health & magic regaining items.

There are a few wandering monster quests where i still cant beat them even though i finished the final boss, there is a lot to do during the game & post game too it's packed with allsorts hidden away to find.

[Golgo]

Great! Ta. One thing I couldn't work out from the demo was whether chatacter movement during battle had any effect, ie whether you can dodge attacks or get critical attacks by sneaking behind, that sort of thing...Good if so, but if not would be better just to have the standard RPG-style static face-off.

[importaku]

If you sneak up from behind when you go into a battle, you can get premptive strike. During battle if you time you attack just right you sometimes you see the word nice appear in a shout bubble, it depends on the timing as they are about to attack, doing it in boss fights makes them stagger if you do it a few times in sucrssion so you can get extra chances at attacking, sometimes shizuku will give you hints on how to get the nice chance. Also doing it a few times lets a gold soul orb appear in the battle screen if you or your imagine pick it up then it unleashes a really damaging attack, bit like limit breaks in final fantasy but you cant save them you have to use it in the battle your in.

Regarding movement i think that you take more damage the closer you are to them when they attack but i cant remember 100 percent though. I know thats the case in the ds version but not sure with ps3 one.

[Golgo]

Hmmm...thanks Importaku. From what you say though I wonder whether the freedom to run around in battle isn't just an unnecessary faff. The classic line-up type RPG battle might have been neater/clearer. Anyway, no big deal. It's still a definite purchase for me.

[fishbowlhead]

This has to be the only game in donkeys years I've been genuinely excited about. Cant wait

[importaku]

Hmmm...thanks Importaku. From what you say though I wonder whether the freedom to run around in battle isn't just an unnecessary faff. The classic line-up type RPG battle might have been neater/clearer. Anyway, no big deal. It's still a definite purchase for me.

The advantage of free running around in battle is the fact that if your about to get attacked you can cancel out of your move & move get out the way of their attack thus avoiding the damage. That only applies to physical attacks as some spells usually auto target you. Still if you nip around the back you can usually get some cheap hits in before they turn around to face you hehe

[PaTaito]

The boss where it suggests you should attack the tail, i coudlnt for the life of me figure how you are suppost to do this? Attacks just aim at the main body of the boss, no matter what you press.

I found it OK from what i played, rather a simple RPG dressed in glorious clothing.

[GluedOnBeard]

I really enjoyed the demo, the use of familiars is great and the AI of the players you do not control does not seem too dimwitted. I Hope there are a lot of extra side quests and maybe more DLC for the western release as it could be for me anyway one of the best RPGS in a long long time.

Although I am not quite sure who got the job of naming some of the enemies and characters in the game. Ding Dong Dell and Marmite evolving in Australian Vegemite... I am not sure that is technically an evolution!

[rmoxon]

Just got this... And I have to say this game is pure magic. Incredible, instant classic.

That's all right now, I need to get back to playing it.

[ETC]

I'm not really convinced, I had a crash last night that required a reinstall but after playing it for the last 4 hours on and off I'm not sure at all. It's inoffensive enough to play but beneath the pretty graphics, nice score and reputation of Ghibli and Level 5, its a pretty boring bog standard rpg its as generic as it gets so far the battle system is a bastard hybrid of Tales and Pokemon, its been done better. I'm going to give it a few more hours as I'm hoping its a slow starter but its only on par with what NISA have been putting out but without the daftness or humour so far. I hope it gets better

[Jamie]

Started and played 6 hours of this today, just got to Al Mamoon. Literally having to drag myself away from the game to do other things.

[rmoxon]

I'm not really convinced, I had a crash last night that required a reinstall but after playing it for the last 4 hours on and off I'm not sure at all. It's inoffensive enough to play but beneath the pretty graphics, nice score and reputation of Ghibli and Level 5, its a pretty boring bog standard rpg its as generic as it gets so far the battle system is a bastard hybrid of Tales and Pokemon, its been done better. I'm going to give it a few more hours as I'm hoping its a slow starter but its only on par with what NISA have been putting out but without the daftness or humour so far. I hope it gets better

Sorry but it is in no way a bog standard Generic RPG. The battle system is brilliant and the boss fights really require you to stay alert and utilise your familiars well. It's very fun to play.

The story and characters are fantastic too... Although I do have to wonder what Drippy is like in Japanese, as in the English dub he's incredibly welsh. In fact I'm glad I went English, I can't imagine Japanese voice acting goes well with his subtitled dialogue.