Ni No Kuni II is Kind of Disappointing - A Critical Review - Tarks Gauntlet
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 มิ.ย. 2024
- Whether you were a fan of the first game or not Ni No Kuni 2 strives to be its own new thing, and without a doubt it pulls it off.
As one of the most unique JRPG's to release to the mainstream in decades it garnered mass appeal among critics and players although many long time JRPG players are claiming the game to be unpalatable.
What has caused this divide? Who was the game made for, and will it appeal to you?
Consider buying the game through my amazon affiliate link!
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Also, I don't know wtf happened but my gameplay footage half bit the dust. Looks like 720p and in some shots there's even artifacting. I'll look into why this is and hope to get it fixed.
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I loved the first one and hate to see that they felt they needed to adjust the formula to suit Western audiences. I don't understand why they feel that adjusting it for Western audiences means it has to be simple and mindless.
Guess what Japan? We love complex systems and deep, involved narratives as much as you do. Especially in our RPGs.
They've obviously never heard of or played CRPGs like Baldur's Gate, Pillars of Eternity, or Planescape. These are damn complex games and they are Western games through and through.
Well said. This is the same team that produced the first game and Dragon Quest 8! It's such a shame.... Making concessions or capitulating in order to reach a broader audience almost never turns out well for artists. Doing so always alienates your core fan base/support.
I certainly regret buying this game.
bullshit the mainstream western audience is dumber its just a fact especially americans...
I actually like the second one better. So to each their own.
Before watching this, I LITERALLY thought you photoshopped the character in the thumbnail to look like Lisa Simpson for comedic effect. But no... that's an actual character model. Not a sign of strong character design. I am taken aback.
They did photoshop them to look like lisa simpson. The actual character doesn't have a body shape like that, it doesn't have the beads or the saxophone. So your initial assumption was correct.
Still, that photoshopped design isn't too far off.
Something that's been bothering me for awhile now in modern RPG's is the lack of fully voiced scripts. Fire Emblem Echoes got this mostly right and i wish more did.
The gameplay was/is fun in general (the battle system was far too easy but still fun) but the lack of character development and poor writing was extremely disappointing. I loved the first game for the most part, and jrpgs are my favorite genre. I completely agree with this take, couldn't have said it better myself.
Jrpgs are my favorite genre too but for different reason, I love jrpg gameplay, battle systems and progression systems and how you become stronger throughout the game, don't get me wrong, story is important but not as important as gameplay, I mean it's in the name, we are talking about games here so of course gameplay is the most important quality of any game including jrpgs, especially jrpgs, considering some of these games can last hundreds of hours, good gameplay systems are a nesessity, that's the entire reason why I play and I consider a good story an added bonus
I'm playing on Expert and I can't imagine how easy it would be on normal. I wish it was a bit more difficult, but from reading a bit about it apparently it gets more difficult later on around level 50
Great review, just would like to inform the people that they have indeed added a hard mode, and an even harder mode as well!
They should of renamed it then to very easy, easy and hard.
@@yggdrasil7942 You obviously didn't play the post game or dlc battles, even normal is tough in the dlc battles
@@mathewhosier9739 Not everything is about post game. Normal mode shouldn't feel like very easy mode throughout the majority of the game.
I agree with your take. I absolutely loved NNK 1 and was very excited to play the sequel which I bought at launch. Since then I tried to play it 3 times over the years and always ended up quiting. The first one was a bit childish but it had so much charm that I had a blast from beginning to end. This one I just end up feeling it's just a kids game and always lose interest.
There are no wrong opinions, just different ones. I agree with pretty much all the points you made in this video, but what really killed the game for me was the lack of good story and character progression. Even though I enjoyed the gameplay aspects - yes, even the skirmishes - and the kingdom building, the complete lack of any sort of depth to the plot nagged at me all the way through the game. I think the biggest tragedy of this game was the wealth of things they had to work with with Roland's story line that they just...completely ignored. It's a shame; I spent a ridiculous amount of money on the collector's edition and I wish I hadn't. I really liked the first Ni no Kuni but if I'd known that they were going to ignore plot progression I would have saved my money and just bought the regular edition; SUCH a waste of money. I agree with Tarks; buy it if you want a cute, fun time waster. Don't buy it if you want depth.
By the way...I'm from the 'west', and I did not prefer this to Japanese RPGS.
I also got the collector's edition.. that audio CD was a bigger disappointment than the game itself. I feel like I just paid for the metal book plate/case (and even then, the artwork wasn't aligned all that well; kinda looked like a 3D image when you take off the glasses....). The diorama was kinda... well, the image on the box had Longfang further back, but on the actual merchandise, his head is smack dab next to Evan. I feel like he should've been placed further back a bit.
Also, game-wise, there was a LOT of character development that was missed..
---------SPOILERS BELOW (for those who haven't played, obvi)----------
Zip: wow I can't believe I almost blew up my whole country! LOL.
Roland: wow, I can't believe I didn't have a panic attack of some degree while this whole misadventure happened! It's not like some high ranking officer gave the OK to send out world-obliterating missiles, destroying my world and killing my family in what feels like less than a year to cope! LMAO.
Also Roland: I just got caught in the blast wave of a massive explosion! Let me just make my way through this castle in the progress of being demolished by bombs as if I were taking a leisurely stroll around the park. Cuz y'know. No biggie.
----------SPOILERS ENDED----------
Anyway.. the game itself was pretty fun. I just wish some stuff was improved on (I wish the reason was because of less time/resources than "made basically shittier for the western part of the world."). Like there's a part when Batu calls Roland by his title, but when the heck did he even tell them? Needs improvement. But I still love the game itself.
This second game is better.
When I think of character progression, it's the leveling, gear and skill systems, a good story is just an added bonus to me, this is a game, of course gameplay is the most important quality, jrpg is my favorite genre because of the incredible battle and progression systems in this genre
" I think the biggest tragedy of this game was the wealth of things they had to work with with Roland's story line that they just...completely ignored. "
The game(in the main story) suddenly remembered Roland is from our (now destroyed)world and he has love ones there.
Just watched some brief gameplay & the game has apparently had a few updates, one being the addition of 2 extra difficulties (Hard & Expert) which also have the added benefit of rarer rewards.
Aside from the mini-stories & flat characters, I'll give this one a try since the complete edition is currently on sale.
It’s not the same without Studio Ghibli’s animations, the fun quick thinking options gameplay and an actual story.
good review. interesting you not how japanese developers try to simplify their games when designing stuff with westerners in mind. can't wait for blazblue cross tag battle. might pick up ni no kuni 2 when it goes on sale
I'm playing this as my first Ni No Kuni game and absolutely love it so far. I wonder how I'll feel about the original...
I bought 1 and 2 on sale. Loved the first and was disappointed by the second. So different. If they had given it a different name I wouldn't have been so disappointed. What also was annoying was that I had recently finished Rogue Galaxy and the combat is almost a total rip from that old PS2 game. Felt cheap for the developer to do that. I gave up when I had to start collecting people to upgrade the city. Good review. Cheers.
I watched this on my phone last night. I stopped by again to give it a like. I find that 15 hours to be disappointing. I haven't played the first one yet. So, I guess that is the one to stick with. Good job. Very informative. It sounds like you could talk about this game for hours.
Wow. I get to appreciate reviewers by watching their review after am done with the game. It took me about 45hours to finish and I have to say you are very good reviewer. You actually pointed out all the good and bad things about the game.
I think the graphics are the strongest point.
You really explained the gameplay as well.
i agree completely. the first game had me hooked right from the beginning, and had me instantly fall in love with the protagonist, and feel bad for him and his motives. but this game is just so incredibly bland when standing next to the first, i can’t stand most of the characters, and the ones i do are easily inferior to any characters from ni no kuni 1. lofty just felt like drippy if drippy’s soul personality trait was that he had a funny accent, and most of the game just felt painful to sit through. sad how people ignore wrath of the white witch but love revenant kingdom.
quite the opposite for me. the first game is quite a disappointment and i hate the weird turn based mechanics. not a fan in the collecting the familiars either. sure the story in the first game is arguably better but in overall terms, i prefer ni no kuni 2.
Hey Tark, can you revisit the game in 2021? I was thinking of playing again but not sure if it's worth replaying
I'm taking a break from the game and plan to give it a second chance after I've had time to get over my initial disappointment. I was a huge fan of the original.
I am glad you chose the most objectively correct Time Lord in your example.
Not a bad review, but, I do think it's coming from a place of someone who has played a lot of JRPGs before...while this does make it a more "informed" opinion - it also feels like we are comparing Ni No Kuni as if it should have been designed to appeal only to hardcore JRPG fans looking for a challenge and extremely deep story & characters (like Persona 5 for instance, or even Lost Odyssey).
Ni No Kuni's first outing had some tougher-than-expected boss fights and a story with some interesting twists, but ultimately still felt like a story and game made to appeal more to youngsters and even families. It wasn't grimdark with deep, brooding characters like Sephiroth or Luca Blight, and neither is Ni No Kuni 2. It's a simpler series meant for a wider demographic in general, so for me this review feels like we are comparing Pokemon to Final Fantasy VI. Both are fun in the their own right, but are very different games and have always had a different demographic.
For it's target demographic - I feel Ni No Kuni 2 is a 9/10 and is a very charming and polished game in its own right. For the hardcore JRPG fan crowd starved for a challenge or a "deep grinder" - it's not that game...but honestly feels like it was never going to be, nor was it marketed as such.
Yeah, this is why at the end of it all I state that for people new to the genre or looking to get into it this might be just what they're looking for, but for many others who are familiar with more traditional JRPG's and know what they like in the genre they may have more to consider.
I'm of course in the latter category. Reviews are 90% opinion, so I don't mind being one of the few who come from this background to do this review. I specifically don't compare it to any other game out there, I just speak holistically of the genre and what people would typically expect, and then inform them if these expectations are met from the perspective of somebody in the aforementioned latter category. It feels like most reviews of this game were done by people who aren't naturally inclined to the genre, which led to the aggregate scores being much higher than a lot of traditional JRPG fans would score it, as a result it's many shortcomings (In the eyes of JRPG fans) go completely un-acknowledged in nearly every other review and give false expectations. So when JRPG fans are looking for reviews on the hot-new JRPG and they see a sea of 9's and 10's... it might not actually reflect how they feel. So hopefully I provide some insight more directed to them than many other reviews are. At the end of it all my goal is never to convince people to buy or not. It's to inform people what a game contains, and how somebody in my perspective weighs the content. With this understanding and this information anybody should be able to make an informed decision.
EDIT: Update folks! Today (June 22nd 2018) I've heard the news Hard and expert modes are patched into the game. While I would have preferred this at launch it's definitely good news it's here now at all. I truly believe this can help make the game far more engaging for some and it should be considered if you are questioning buying this game. This information comes from JayRPG and you can check out his video on the updated here:
th-cam.com/video/4_JVRX5KSZk/w-d-xo.html
ORIGINAL POST: Batten down the hatches folks. This could turn into a bloodbath
For those who love the game and are watching just to get mad at something just remember reviews are mostly opinion and subjective. Also, if you pay close attention you may realize I never say the game is bad and I even praise many of its functions.
Excellent job expressing your stance and why it fell short. All I can say is... I wanted to review this game and was beyond excited to get my grubby mitts on it. Once I popped it in, it felt like the battle system, while fun and complex, was unnecessarily convoluted and unnecessary. Many enemies were easily beaten by just button mashing. I only made it a few hours in before getting bored. Maybe I'll return to it, I don't know. Ni No Kuni 1 was easily my favorite game on the PS3, and this one clearly falls far short of my hopes and expectations. Like you said - on it's own, its not a BAD game... more so... just... not as good as it could have been.
LOVED this video dude. Can tell you put a CRAP ton of work into it and man you really knocked it out of the park!
So your first complaint is Batu doesnt change in a story where he's not the focus? Ok.
UnderdogIQ22 not really, you kind of missed the point although that would be a valid complaint regardless.
The scene I used Batu for I used to explain many things. Primarily that moments that should be big and build the depth of a character are instead small and shallow scenes reduced to the least amount of lines as possible, and as such fail to leave the impressions the game wants you to have, and also that what is told in such scenes is not consistently represented throughout the game so they're ultimately completely meaningless. The example was to show the shallowness of the writing found throughout the entire game, the shallowness of the characters is a result of the writing.
I could have used nearly any scene in the game but decided on something early game to mitigate any feeling of spoilers.
Batu is also part of your main cast and a party member. In a jrpg that means he's part of the focus and should experience character development.
Tarks Gauntlet You did a nice Review.
Thanks trcsonic.
Sorry it's taken a few days to see your comments here. Was on a trip over the weekend. Catching up now!
I really liked the more tactical approach of 1, and 2's battle system feels too button mashy
This was a fantastic review! Really nice presentation and editing! Keep it up!
I'm glad I found someone out there who shares a lot of the same criticisms as I did with the game. It's a really nice JRPG to pick up and play, but I feel it ultimately doesn't meet the lofty heights of the original's level of quality and presentation.
The copy/pasted enemies and dungeons was jarring but I rolled with those punches.
Combat for me was fun but flawed to me. I much prefer capturing and fighting with the wide variety of monsters from the first game to the more simplistic action-combat system of the sequel.
I kept thinking of this game's combat like a kid's version of Bloodborne, minus the good execution and challenge, except for a few highly challenging Tempered Monsters.
Overall, a great review for a really good JRPG, just wish it did better in some areas.
As Lofty would say, "Flippin heck, mon!"
Even though the world has ended, thanks to you, it still doesn't stop me from commenting. I actually think your review was spot on. The beginning of the game was really appealing only to find out later there's no dialogue options, most of the dialogue is cut-off, and there's no real way to influence the world or story except to level up your kingdom and army so you can get more loot, so you can level up your kingdom and army so you can... oh well.. The graphic design for the worldmap + kingdom, although understandable, are atrocious compared to the rest of the game and so disappointing (cellphone quality). Everything being funneled back into the kingdom building and army sequences was highly frustrating. You can't possibly imagine my frustration when I found out that one of the final scenes involved a huge army battle against vicious assholes who whiped out parts of my army in one single slash while the game kept on saying 'hang on in there!'. So forget about ignoring the army sequences... lol :( The only visual reward you get for leveling up your kingdom is actually the throne room where some of your cutscenes will appear. There you have it, the game is full of cosmetic rewards that aren't even all that interesting.
At some point in the story, like you, (after finishing the Broadleaf section) I tried to speed up things and finish the game as soon as possible, even at the cost of missing most of the dreamer's mazes (which were the best parts of the game). Because nothing really interesting happened... All you do is repeat the same story over and over again to befriend kingdoms and move on to the next one without ever gaining something like a spell or ability or whatever to progress your character. Along the way you meet loads of NPC's who will give you ignorant fetch quests even though you're the F'ing king of Evermore. Lots of strange things happen in the story without ever being explained. Only to find out in the last 1/1.5 hours of the game that everything has an explanation, but who gives a flying f*ck at that point? The game is over, lol. And I just want to add that the final boss of the game came out of nowhere, had no real interesting backstory and took me a sweet 40 minutes (or longer, it felt like a day) to beat cause he had two separate health bars. I mean, c'mon. The final boss section (and semi-bosses) was the only real moment I had to use up most of my (limited supply of) items. Mainly because I was severely under-leveled.
That being said, I did really like the graphics and the fact that in dungeons your battle-scenes don't have a separate battle screen (action RPG style). So in that aspect the game does have some pace. But story wise, if you inspect the first scene and the final scene, there are still a lot of missing links to be found. And in the final scenes you get an overload of information bombarded to you in a way that's just too bizarre to describe. 'Oh by the way, all the missing plot links and funny business throughout the entire game, here's a list of explanations, have fun, bye'!
"here's a list of explanations, have fun, bye'!"
And one of those explanations causes a bit of a paradox... But yes. Thank you for making me feel like I'm not crazy.
This is an amazing comment, and I'm sure you (Like myself) could offer even more critique than what we have so far (Like the small enemy variety?) but at some point you just kind of accept what it is and decide you've said enough and move on haha.
Thanks for the kind words. It was worth checking my phone for during the end of the world.
Oh there's definitely more complaints from my side but I can't go much into detail because it would mean I would have to dig deeper into the story and present some spoilers. It's still a 'premium' game so can't have too many spoilers ;). I'm glad to back you up in this because your commentary is absolutely justified. I would say that all in all NNK2 is not a bad game, I did enjoy parts of it but there are just too many head scratching moments in the game. Like why is Evan talking to some kid in his dreams and why does it only become 'relevant' (it doesn't) at the end of the story? And why is Roland never sad? He says he has a kid back home (care-spoiler...) but never really talks about the kid and never really cries or despairs about it (only until the end that is... something like that anyway). And why, oh why, oh why, is a president of a nation, accompanied by several body guards, carrying a gun? I can't explain this spoiler-free, so I'm letting it go, but if you know what he was planning and where he was going you'll laugh your ass off. Imagine everyone at the United Nations 'peacefully' coercing while secretly being armed to the teeth...
Also, I wanna rant about the ending, but I just don't wanna spoil the game for others. It just made zero sense. If anything, it made the entire story/game irrelevant. All these questions I asked myself while playing the game are shiftily explained at the end of the game which makes everything that passes before the ending kind of baseless, as if the game/developer is telling you 'bare with me - we'll tell you at the end'. Well then, let me present to you: Ni No Kuni II: Bare with me.
One thing I did like about the story is the take on multiverses or multiple dimensions being related to each other, but that is something of a spiritual/philosophical/scientific(maybe) discussion. But in the end they don't really manage to fully describe the theory or whatever it's based on.
Ultimately, if this game was designed as a dungeon-crawler with heavy RPG elements and a small base to return to which you could casually expand from time to time, then yeah, this game would've been awesome. Trying to uncover the past with your spell and restore ruins and discover other mysterious places. Researching items you find at the ruins and find out what they mean and could mean in the current timeline. But hey, that's not the story! It's about some dumbass contract composed by a kid who doesn't even have a clue about what he's doing or talking about and never even questions why - because he's pretty dumb - he's repeatedly talking to some mysterious kid in his dreams. Actually he hardly ever questions what is going on nor does he ever reflect upon his own actions or ideas. Well, this turned out to be somewhat of a rant anyway. But that's what you get when you invent a story with a naive kid as one of the two main characters successfully running an expanding kingdom. Whatever happened to being critical or sceptical? Well, NNK2 tells you to throw it all overboard.
I'd love to see them add a harder difficulty level. Other games like Dragon's Dogma did this after launch. I also really wish Level 5 would hire better writers as well because they have so much talent from a technical and creative standpoint.
And dragons dogma was already pretty hard to begin with. Loved the game though. Really wish more people played it.
Another really innovative rpg with great systems that really could have used a memorable, impacting story.
Oh yeah. I only remember a handful of story events. That game for me was all about the battles though. Only thing I remember annoying me was the chatter from the pawns.
"Ought not go that way arisen!" haha. If we get a proper follow up I hope they do some sort of drop in/out co-op like dark souls has and keep the pawn system on the side.
The first game actually had a really grand story imo. It feels here the story was an afterthought and simply wrote around the gameplay mechanic of building. It feels like tje story was one of the last things they actuall worked on.
GamingWithSpoons I may have to revisit the original. It just never left an impact that really stuck with me. The world on the other hand, I remember vividly.
You did an amazing job on this
Thanks man! Means a lot!
Anybody in my comments interested in some anime and niche games too swing by bao's channel and show him some love!
ni no kuni 1 is a masterpiece. Ni no kuni 2 is a very good game
I agree.
The first was magical.
The second one was Just an okey game.
@Negan mate the combat was fine, I played Ni No Kuni 2 on expert and it was way to easy, but I had an extremely hard time on the first game even on easy.
Nah Ni No Kuni 2 is just trash.
I just picked this up recently and totally agree with all your points, however I'm enjoying it all the same. That said, I have the advantage of the higher difficulty settings.
Your review is wonderful. Why don’t you have a let’s play series? I’d watch
Thanks haha. I live stream occasionally but it's definitely not something I'm great at.
I have no complaints, it’s cute and I love the studio gibli is part of it
It's definitely Ghibli inspired but they didn't really help on this one, only on the first.
try the first game it blew my mind. this one is just meh...
perfect review. Points out exactly what bugged me with the game overall. I still consdier NNK2 a good JRPG on my PS4 but it most certainly has it's flaws. most of the characters besides roland and evan, were not intriguing me in any way (yes Batu I'm especially looking at you). I still feel entertained with the game (I'm currently 150 hours in) but that's mostly just due to the combat being fun but very simplistic. I'm still looking forward to the expansions they planned for the season pass. I'm just praying it will cover some of the story portions from the maingame that were simply left out without any real reason.
P.S is there any way to join your discord? the link seems expired~
Thanks for the nice words, and I'll remind the discord later today. I always set the links to never expire but they never seem to stay that way.
discord.gg/9gpTaBA
Hopefully that one will do the trick. Thanks for letting me know this was happening. It's greatly appreciated. I'm gonna swap the link on all of my vids now and contact discord support. See if they can stop this from happening a 3rd time.
Volpe damn
150 hrs?
they added in a difficulty change with the dlc and addressed some of these issues with all the new content (although i don't think making the game harder should just mean now everything one shots you but literally everything else about combat is the same) do you have any thoughts on the game in its current state? if you have access to the dlc?
After I beat the game I sold it so I haven't been able to check out the updates. I will say though that I think adding new difficulty options is definitely a positive and makes the game a bit more worth checking out.
Awesome! Was waiting a video from you since your last one was just a compilation of past videos that I already watched.
After playing Dragon quest XI this game is so boring and so monotonous...
the first game was billion time better and couldn't stop playing it since the start I was so addicted to the story and gameplay...this one I downloaded it, played it for 45mins then deleted the game lol
I had it the other way around tho, got bored on dragon quest XI after 40 hrs, but still enjoying Ni no kuni 2 at 40 hrs plus
It seems I might like this game. I am an RPG novice. All though I am playing Mass Effect 1 and its reminding me why I have been a novice for so long.
I don't normally watch jrpg reviews, but when I do it's Tarks Gauntlet!
Thanks for the review Tark. Someday I hope to pick up the Ni No Kuni series someday. Got to say the multiple mechanics in this game sounds interesting, if not a bit overwhelming :D
The bloatware of the kingdom management didn't bother me so much although it was not without it's complications.
In fairness citizen hunting gave me a purpose. I did sidequests more frequently and fairly often for the sake of this and it motivated me to do them in general.
It does come with it's fair share of annoyances. Most citizens are found in kingdoms but 3 or 4 do not and the game does a poor job of establishing this rule outside of Mileniyah. One of them is just standing in the overworld after chapter 9. You were supposed to know this how. One of them is in many of the overworld caves. And most likely the last one the bandit you kick out of the heartland must be challenged in a series of skirmishes.
Another one - the worst one - consists of a bunch randomly generated taskmaster subquests. You cannot make them show up. You just have to hope they do to get this particular citizen. in any event the tedium sinks in. While your Kingdom provides you with an extraordinarily brilliant way to maximize loot the highest grade material in the game you can only acquire in one area in the game at random. Your kingdom cannot produce any of it. Pretty much putting a halt in developing the best stuff including making the best higgledies
I will agree with you on this one because sometimes this game does stressfull and exhausting after awhile because sometimes I cannot figure out where I I'm suppose to go. I keep on going around in circles all the time.
How to make the two main characters better:
Make Ronald have flash backs and hesitate at certain points, remembering what happened to his home and son.
Make Evan have moments when he feels like he can't go one, but has to, (he lost his farther, someone close to him, and by the looks of things his mother is dead so he's been through more than Oliver.)
Fun fact about the first game: WARNING SPOILERS!
When Oliver deafeats Shadar/Lucien, and Shadar does that spell, he's switching the tables around (this being Shara dies, Oliver dies, now Oliver can live, but Shadar will die.) And Shadar has immortality, so, Oliver could have that to.
This review was spot on, and I agree with majority of the things you said, a couple things I disagree with. But you explained your point of view so well that I see where you are coming from man. Awesome review...p.s. I subscribed to you and honestly look forward to your reviews man!
Well, at least the collector's edition isn't disappoint.
The CE is VERY impressive, but super expensive where I live so I didn't go for it this time.
10/10 outro
Oh, hi Tarks! 😂 But seriously thanks for doing such an in-depth look at the game. I'm by no means a JRPG aficionado, but I was intrigued by Ni No Kuni II as I enjoyed the first one. The Dreamer's Maze looks like a neat mechanic even if it's not perfectly implemented. I'm not sure how I'd feel about the skirmishes and kingdom management. There are certainly games in both veins I've played and enjoyed, I'm just not certain I'd want to indulge them in favor of grinding and character management. That being said, I still have to admire that they tried to add more depth to the experience :) 16:28 yeah, that's some pretty clear telegraphing. Despite your criticisms, I still think I'd enjoy giving it a shot. Not always, but sometimes I've found some JRPG's to be intimidating so while I lament that some JRPG purists might not find what they're looking for here, selfishly speaking I'm glad to hear it's more approachable. I just hate to get into a character or storyline, hit a point of frustration, and then have to abandon a game whose premise I really enjoyed. I'll let you know if I grab it :)
Excellent comment! This is exactly what I like to hear. Even if my complaints do resonate with you you've gained enough information to make an informed decision, so I feel my job is done! As I say towards the end, for people who aren't too deep into JRPG's this may be a great game for them. For people with traditional backgrounds in JRPG's this might not have everything you're looking for. Sadly I'm in the latter camp.
Tarks Gauntlet Indeed! I’m BAD about shiny-object syndrome and this game is just so pretty I can’t stand it. But in the past this has gotten me into purchases that maybe weren’t the best fit for me. So watching this I felt more informed about it and also LOVE that you don’t (at least publicly :p) label me a filthy casual for my lack of discernment in my RPG experiences 😂 Appreciate it dude :D
I’m so glad I found this review. After completing it, I was so underwhelmed and wasn’t sure why. I have the DLC but I’m not going to bother with it.
this actually plays a lot like Suikoden with kingdom building and tactical modes aside from the usual combat. the weird thing was I enjoyed the kingdom building, which I really shouldn't have. I just let the game play while I watched movies and played other games on my phone. lol. it just felt good when I got my kingdom earning billions early on in the game.
Bad story. Great gameplay. Wont win an oscar but entertaining enough.
No video game can win an Oscar...wrong media.
@@KevenPirritano oh my god
After finally finishing this game on switch I totally agree but as a shorter rpg it feels much more satisfying to go through although your criticisms are valid it is an enjoyable bit size rpg
Well this is a very fair review I think. I thought about buying this game but the lacking challenge and shallow character building I have seen on streams and this review so far are not enough to make me want to play. I'd like more J in my RPG, thank you.
i do so much side quests, i forget what the main story is doing.
the ending was a real let down too...
Just discovered your channel and diggin it, keep up the good work!
I never played NK1 but was excited to play 2 after the high reviews of 1. But NK2 wasnt very good. I was bored for most of the game. It's the whole point but I hated the kingdom building aspect and the skirmishes. The battle was enjoyable but that's about it. I finally bought NK1 on the switch since it was on sale so I look forward to finally giving it a go.
This game is way too easy. While i loved the first one, i haven't brought myself to finish its sequel yet.
This was one of my most anticipated games of this year but like you said its just disapointing to the point that i took the disc out of my ps4 so fast and im never touching it again
School holidays start in a few days so i guess im finally starting FFXII
I'll say one thing about his game: I thought it was all cute-sy and stuff like the first game, and the only bad thing I had expected to happen was a loved one being sacrificed at the ten minute mark, like the first game did.
Five minutes in and an entire city was nuked and you had to walk past the corpses of victims during a bloody coup in a city you knew from the last game.
"That escalated quickly" doesn't do those first minutes justice.
I'm confused on your comment but what I was thinking is if we got to play through more of Roland beginning after the nuke
I know I'm 4 years late to the party, but I have some serious grievances with this game.
1. The Skirmishes annoy me for one reason, Your troops don't level up with your main party, which they should be doing as a professional army, and that skirmishes are mandatory for the story. So if you've neglected side content, you now have to abandon the story to grind your troops.
2. The story is a joke when you dig deep into it. It mangles its own rules, makes the protagonists into sociopaths and lacks the emotional impact it could have had.
When you're in Hydropolis and they choose not to renew the spell, you should have been faced with an influx of asylum seekers, all fleeing an eco disaster. You should have then been tasked to find enough food and provide enough housing for these new people, like a capable ruler would.
In the end game, a lot of people are just collapsing in the streets, and instead of seeking asylum in the one place in the world where that doesn't happen, the protagonists just let them collapse.
Just getting thru the first one. I like this review and appreciate you showed examples of things when you talked about them, keep up the good work
This is pretty much how I feel about the game so far. The battle system while enjoyable, is way to easy. Half the time, I don't even bother using my higgledies in battles lol.
The lack of voice acting in some scenes is kind of disappointing as well. You sometimes get a 10 sec voiced line of dialogue and that's it. If they were going to do that, why bother adding a voice clip at all lol.
I also found the skirmishes as unnecessary fluff that I try to avoid when I can. The kingdom building is pretty fun though. I find myself researching, building, and recruiting new members a pleasant side distraction at times. It makes sense considering that is one of Level-5's strengths that began with the Dark Cloud games (I never played them myself, I just heard that the building aspect was praised).
Another gripe I have is the lack of character background as you mentioned. I'm in chapter 5 now and the only character that I really know about is Even. I would love to find out more about what drives Roland to help him. I realise that I may be jumping the gun here and things might be explained further in (at least for Roland), but right now, all characters other then Even feel like empty shells to me.
Saying those things however, I have been enjoying the game for what Its worth. The art style is nice keeping with that Ghibli style. The combat while easy, is fun and a step in the right direction from the first game imo. The things I've mentioned are just minor gripes after all and my final opinion may change once I finish the game (or not lol).
As a final note, I have been playing this on a Pro and the framerate does get kinda choppy at times in some areas when 4K mode (1800p) is on. I switched it to Standard mode (1080p 60fps) shortly after and it is stable. It looks just fine in 1080p on my 4K TV and I prefer a more stable fps over resolution anyday lol.
Anyways, sorry for the mouthful of text haha. Great review my man 👍.
Dude, don't apologize. I read every word of it and love hearing what other people think.
As per your desire to know more about Roland.. I won't spoil anything but he gets a plot-twist eventually... and it's really unprovoked and I honestly found it stupid, but you may feel otherwise so look forward to that! haha.
Aw it's a 'cute' bad fan art of Lisa Simpson. Yet to install it on the PC. Will give it a go this weekend. Overall, good job 🐱
I can't deny lofty's dumb smile has a certain kind of charm to it.
I have not played the game yet but i watched the walkthrough, the gameplay and the storyline...i am happy with it, i would like to play the game whatsoever....I just hope that the game showed Evan's older self befitting for a King Image or as the story progresses, Evan is growing and we can witness his maturity...i like the Kingdom Building, it reminds me of Dark Chronicle games, i just hope it's possible to explore Evermore, not as a Chibi but in real time...that will be amazing...i love the music so much...it's stress-relieving...this game is still worth a praise...
Yes, there's a lot of systems working together in this game but the city building and skirmishes is such a small part of it, combat and exploration still makes up 80% to 90% of the game
I'm just sad the battling isn't the same
I've never played the first one, I like the visuals and the art direction but I dunno, something doesn't seem right for me.. It's a game that I don't feel that I want to play it, the same happens with the second one, maybe I'll get it on a deep sale, anyway great review and video! =)
It felt like they took a Kingdom-Building tablet game and slapped the Ni No Kuni "brand" on it. The music is worse, the whole eastern side of the word map is virtually unused (3 continents!); the randomized dream mazes, the side dungeons always being a forest/cave/temple, boring story and characters, the fact that each kingdom' s story is finished in like 2 hours - the list goes on.
Great review, you pretty much speak my mind. The game is great, but the story and characters are seriously lacking. Like the reviewers in Obilisk mentioned, it certainly has the Ghibli looks, but it doesn't have the spirit. Also while this game does certainly gets the west attention as they have planned, but hopefully they won't try this again, cause well... let's just say things would go bad really quick, I like if they try to appease to their main Japanese audience instead. Anyway thanks for the review.
neptuniafan if sales and reception are good enough (which I think they are) they'll probably keep going this route. Sucks for jrpg traditionalists, but it's only one series. Hopefully not many follow their example.
Expert mode is super difficult! I actually like the game but i have never tried normal mode. I always choose the most difficult option but i understand that there was no difficulty option at launch.
Kingdom building was fun in this game and can be time consuming if you want to lvl everything up to the max I'm only on chapter 7 I'm almost done the game I hope the season pass content is promising
Yup. I enjoyed kingdom building. I don't think they should have locked the end of the game behind it but I was working on my kingdom the whole time so it didn't really slow me down any. Might suck for anybody who does't like it or doesn't bother with side content haha. Chapter 9 can be a big stone wall for them. And you're right where the story really picks back up again. Enjoy!
My problem with kingdom building was that it presented no challenge, you just waited to get gold and then build more stuff. It felt more like a chore. But despite that, it was addictive and I kept coming back.
Yeah I got to chapter 7 and realize I was bored out of my damn mind, deleted the game and never looked back.
I greatly enjoyed Ni No Kuni II, played it on expert all the way through and it was a decent challenge. Might be just me, but I prefered the gameplay of 2 over the 1st one, which was a bit too slow. The story is definitely not as strong as the first one for sure, but still better than a lot of standard "chosen one saves the world" jrpg's, I enjoyed the lack of any excessive Japanese fanservice characters, and the more political aspects were better handled than in other stories that tackle kingdom intrigue.
I appreciated that any grind was minimal, and fights were quick as they should be.
I think this is easily an 8, or strong 7.
Love this game so much .100% this shit . Yea i love the story .it is alittle slow which is weird but it kind if has to be .u are literally building a kingdom. It's impossible to allow the game to have a sense of real urgency. I personally not mad that the party members are not being so developed over time .i like thats it beautiful in every other way .
I'm currently at the start of chapter 8 and I found this review to be refreshingly honest and accurate. Prior to watching this video I did not know that Ni No Kuni 2 was developed with a Western audience in mind; therein lying the problem. Instead of just placing the focus on making a great game Level 5 instead pandered to the lowest common denominator and a stereotyped one at that. In attempting to appeal to a broader audience and gaming trends, Level 5 ended up with a shallow and underdeveloped game that lacks the storytelling and emotional gravitas of not only it's predecessors but all other quality JRPG's as well.
At 66 hours into the game I've often found myself asking where the story is at, where the character archs have gone, and irritated that I don't care about any if the games characters. Ni No Kuni 2 feels more like a collection of mini games that didn't get a full development cycle than it does a cohesive and epic experience. Then there's the issue of enemy variety, a small world, absurdly low difficulty, and additional content that does nothing to further the game instead serving only as filler.
According to Level 5, western gamers are myopic, shallow, and have short attention spans. I find myself disappointed with Ni No Kuni 2 because this is the team that brought us not only it's vastly superior predecessor but one if the greatest games ever in Dragon Quest VIII. This is what happens when you focus on creating content for a specific audience.
...and where the hell are the Tokos?!!!
"Instead of just placing the focus on making a great game Level 5 instead pandered to the lowest common denominator and a stereotyped one at that."
It's a little disheartening that it largely worked out for them in the west too isn't it? haha. Stereotypes exist for a reason I guess.
Sadly yes but pandering only works for so long before they refocus on their core audience. Seems to run in cycles.
You said everything i wanted to say. Thanks, bro
I’ve just finished the game and came here to confront my opinion. I’ve played (and loved) both Ni No Kuni Remastered and II and I think they are a nice addition to my collection. I probably prefer the first one over the second, despite it being full of way more content (I’ve bought the DLCS but haven’t touched them yet) due the easiness of the fights and poor writing decision. (P.S. as someone already said now there is an option to change difficulty)
Another problem (at least with the PS4 standard version) it’s the poor frame rate in some situations, but it’s still playable
My journey came to a complete halt when fighting the Ding dong dell kingmaker. My level was too low and i had to grind to progress the story. I hate that I have to grind; the lvl up setting is basically useless. Other than that, cool game
i loved the first one and spend around 80 hours playing it. i only played 10 hours of thr second one and cant bring myself to like it :/
I finished the game at 100 hours but I didn't think it was a great game, it was fun but had so many flaws that I can't recommend it to anyone.
yaku momo lol played a game for 100 hours that was bad?
While I did very much like NNK2, I do agree with a lot of the problems you brought up. The story did seem lackluster. Kinda looking forward to the new content, but at the same time I doubt it will be very worth while lol
PinstripeParagon Pinstripe! Man I feel like I've not seen you in forever! Dig the new avatar. And yeah, theres definitely fun and exploration to be had, just a lot of things have some cracks in the foundation. I'm still excited to see where this series goes. I certainly can't deny they're doing interesting and unique things for the genre.
When I think about the length of a game, it's not just the main story but what it takes for 100% completion and with the dlc you can easily spend 130-140 hours in this game so this game can be as long as you want it to be
I didnt played NNK2, but I just finished 1. When I was watching the first chapters, I fell in love with NNK1, and made me NNK2 sleep.
The best comparison was, that while NNK1, you have like 1hour to set up the story and Drippy and you, as a player, are confused because Oliver doesnt want to go to another world, in NNK2, was stupid like a "truck kun"/bomb that "hitted" the Main Character and tada, he arrived to the other world... 😅 wathever...🤷♂️🤷♂️And the main character from 2 wasnt sympathetic enough. The 1rst one, was a child how just loses his mother, a very relatable thing that everybody experienced more or less, the second... a polititian?🤦🤦 why? If they'are mostly hated.
Thank you, when i saw this game and a few lets plays of it I was cringing pretty bad, especially at that opening. I feel like this game didn't earn alot of the good scores people give it and if I can't immerse myself in a good story I call that a waste of time and money. Thanks for saving me some cash for a good game.
The game was SO close to being amazing. SO close. Like if the game had a few more months in development. Hopefully the dlc explains and goes deeper into the story, maybe they left out things on purpose?
Absolutely agree with you. I did like the game but I was always thinking about how they could have changed some areas to be more memorable and how they could have added more depth to the characters. Some slight changes could have already made a big difference in the overall feel of the game.
What put me off the most, was the fact that I heard so much praise for "the big reveal" at the end and how shocking it was, that I went in expecting something grandious or mindblowing. Then I played trough the last chapter and the ending felt weird, flat and somehow contrived. To be fair, it was not entirly the game's fault, that I felt a little bit disappointed after the credits rolled but more overhype and missinformation by some reviewers on the internet.
Oh damn, I bought it a week ago and I just not in to it. I would finished it somehow so I won't waste my money. I will re sell it after I finish
.
Any good JRPGs for PS4 worth getting out there? This one doesnt look that good and is overpriced atm, I was thinking of Tales of Berseria but dont know many other ones, so if anyone has any good advice id appreciate
edoardo fedrighi Tales of berseria is fantastic. Your cast is a bit op so you may want to play on hard but the story and characters are very good. May also want to look into ys8 and persona 5 if you haven't yet.
Guess i'll opt for Berseria then, might try Persona 5 also even tho im not fond of turn based games. I'll also check out ys8, never heard about it... Thanks for the reply m8!
This game, unfortunately, totally lacked the heart and charm of the first game. I enjoyed the gameplay (even though it was too easy) and a couple of the characters were decent... but I couldn't have cared less about the lazily written story or really any of the dialogue. There were no stand out characters and a horrible sense of progression. I did complete it but never felt any need to go back to it
Having platted the game, I agree with most of your comments. They tried to squeeze too many elements in and most end up too shallow.
One correction though, there are 10 dreamer mazes and the last one have enemies around lvl 90+ in later floors. Sadly, this only increases the enemy 'difficulty' so they can one-shot your characters.
tasian22 yeah, the dreamers maze thing i specifically preface with "without spoilers there are 9 of these."
I don't recall them saying early on there's a 10th so I don't want to ruin the surprise for other people.
I have not played it yet but will be soon. I don't mind if this game is too easy as I want a game that I can beat as most games I get frustrated with and cannot beat. but at the same time I don't want the game to be so easy that you cant die at all. I was frustrated with the 1st one because it required too much grinding. I quit playing near the end of the game as I was tired of grinding to progress. even though I like games easier I think they should have made a hard mode for people who like their games harder.
I think it really sucks tht I played Ni no kuni remastered right after I finished nier replicant since that sets are really high bar in terms of story telling. I found the story to be a bit basic, not reallty interested with the characters aside from swaine. Gameplay can be a bit tedious at times though I would say that if pokemon adapted the gameplay it would make it better. So after playing some games after finishing ni no kuni remastered, I plan on playing nnk2. just hoping that the story in 2 is a bit more matured I guess or a bit darker compared to the first one.
Very good review. Your opinions were very well communicated. I can't help but feel concerned that your voiceover still has the flat tone of videos that are over a year old, like your Trails of Cold Steel 1 video. I think that's the area where you need to improve the most right now. This is normally where I'd offer advice to help you do that, but I honestly don't know. A quick google search would tell you a lot more stuff that's more useful than what I could pull out of my butt right now.
Speaking of Trails, have you been making any progress with the Sky trilogy? I'd highly recommend doing them now while CS3 still lacks an official announcement, so you don't feel the need to rush. And I do recommend you play those games, as CS3 relies a lot on spoilers from those games, even more than the Crossbell duology.
I haven't been making progress at all and I really want to. I have the icon for sky on my desktop and it's been there for months. Just no time to get into it.
And yeah, I'm working on the VO thing. For a while I felt I over-done it and was getting words out too fast and running them together (Monster hunter world and Fatal frame videos were bad for this) so I dialed it back some. Trying to find a good middle ground. I feel this video in particular my performance suffers more than some previous ones. At times I can even hear myself slur words. I swear I wasn't drunk though haha. Probably just dehydrated and exhausted. Working full time then coming home and talking into a camera for 50 minutes (That how long these are before I edit them down) can be draining.
Oh, so you have time to play all of these other JRPGs but not the Sky trilogy? lol just teasing. Honestly, I really, *really* needed to force myself to finish Sky FC. There's a lot to love with that game but... dear god it has major pacing problems (hi chapter 2), especially if you want to do all the sidequests (hi chapter 3). Here's what I did, I got through as much of FC as I could... then I spoiled the ending for myself and jumped right into SC, which is great. Honestly, I didn't beat FC until after I finished Sky 3rd, and even then, it was only through the power of love of the series that I was able to finish that game.
So yeah, if you can't force yourself to finish FC, you might wanna try what I did. It's better than nothing, right?
As for your VO, haha, the author is always their harshest critic. I understand the difficulties of working fulltime while trying to do this--you're essentially working two jobs. If recording in one single burst produces results you don't like, maybe try recording in numerous short segments? Your writing is your greatest strength right now, it'd be great if that could reflect in your VO.
As for fixing your monotone VO, try relaxing a little--let loose and have fun. Your story about how you traveled through time was the perfect chance to ham it up and be silly as you can be. You can try directing your VO tone by changing your word choice and sentence structure (aka your tone in the writing) to reflect the topic, like being more militaristic when disussing the army battles in NNK2.
Yeah, Unfortunately when I have something more relevant to play I kind of have to give it precedent and if I have a week off between relevant games it's just long enough to finish something shorter, so games as old sky tend to sit by the way side.
I will get to it though. Definitely not skipping it for pacing or anything. I'm gonna get immersed haha.
I gave Ni No Kuni II the first 10 hours of gameplay to grip me and, while it's visual style is charming, I really don't feel compelled by the gameplay or the story. And I really wanted to love this game! Feels kinda sad, honestly..
Well apparently this game is nominated for best role playing game...
I love this game because this is my first ni no kuni game. Nothing I can say because I never played the first one before, so I am a bit biased.
It's no shock honestly. The game was designed for the west, which (not surprisingly) is made up of westerners. My interests are typically much more highlighted in rpgs designed in a more traditional format.
I feel Xenoblade 2 released too late for last years award shows, so I would still consider that for best RPG of the year. Octopath Traveler might be a runner-up, but that game had some pretty big drawbacks in comparison.
@@TarksGauntlet I agree. What shocked me the most was that Xenoblade wasn't even listed on there. I guess people didn't like the auto gameplay or got frustrated when the enemies get so close to them and KO'ed them immediately. It should've got best music, imo.
oh my god thank you for finally saying this
I really don't like Evan. They did recently release a patch that add difficulty options.
I could never understand why I couldn’t get into this game but that bit about character progression and development, yeah that might be it
Kingdom management is soo good but it will make the game really easy if play on normal
Keep in mind, that when I reviewed this game, at launch, there were no harder difficulty modes. Those were added later via free-update at mass request from the player-base.
Voice dialogue did not bother me as much, but the story itself fell extremely short. The ending was fine, but the entire journey didn't care much weight. The stakes did not feel high enough and not enough character development.
I didn't go into this game expecting it to be anywhere near as good as the first, or even better, and that was for the best. I do love this game, though, it was extremely fun to play through and get the platinum for it. However, my biggest problem, and it is a major problem, as you say, is the character development. I found myself not caring for any of the characters save for Evan and Roland who had the most dialogue. More dialogue could've easily made this game 10x better. Other than that though, I had no major issues.
I will disagree with the difficulty being few and far in between, though. The story bosses were extremely easy, except for the snake guy at the end, he was actually very fun, but a lot of the side bosses were very difficult. The end game bosses are quite a challenge too. And the skirmishes I found to be a lot of fun, despite not being a big strategy game lover.
I honestly wasn't really a fan of the first (I loved the intro of the game and the finale but didn't care too much for the middle 40 hours) and I didn't expect to be interested in this one at all, but the more i seen of the trailers the more I found myself unexpectedly excited for it.
I do think this game improved on the first in many ways (Combat is a big plus for me though I can understand people liking the first's combat more) but yeah, one area it really did not improve or otherwise made worse was even more important to me. It was a fun game, but I sincerely hope they hit a good balance on the next one both in terms of plot/character development as well as some better difficulty options. I know the series is really popular right now but it pains me a bit seeing how it could easily be so much more.
fair criticisms, but the difficulty complaint is fixed now. combat is a satisfying challenge on expert and hitboxes are great
disagree with the game being shallow, mechanics are well thought out and satisfying to customize
and while the character development might not be there so much, they keep the interactions engaging and entertaining
I think now it has a really hard difficulty
I play it they added difficulty change but its pretty boring.
I’ totally agreed with you. I loved Ni no Kuni on ps3 I expected no less than that quality in the sequel, even knowing Ghibli was not involved. I buy it with out looking at meta reviews at all. As I begun to play I gradually get disappointed to the point I’d decided not to keep playing. The story its really lame, the lack of some pulish cutscenes and the hollow characters make me want to look at youtube for the rest of the story... doesn’t worth it either.
When Evan said Mausinger should be remove from the throne, i was expecting Evan mistakenly waging war on Mausinger and conquer Ding Dong Dell out of anger, which would made civilian causalities(because it's a siege, there's definitely going to be collateral damage), which would make him doubt he would fulfill his promise to Aranella to make a kingdom where everyone can live happily ever after, but than he realize he can still do that in the climax, either if you make mistakes(which he didn't do, he only got inconvenience and stoppage from external sources) it's not over, not the end.
But Ratja came in with the talk no jutsu to not make that happen.(I feel like this would've been a second reaction point in Evan's darkest hour)
And later when the game remembers that Roland came from our world, that he probably have love ones( his son and wife) and before he got isekai'd, fallout happen, so they probably in a bad time. Not once in the main story he even thinks about his world
But his world not ruined(Roland even dreads this, i think, all i remember the game said his world is death and decay) because alternate dimensions. Oh my god imagine a post apocalypse made by Level-5 starring Roland that can either have magic or not, hell even it's just dlc, that would be cool.