Review - Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom

Macstorm

Ni no Kuni II attempts to offer something for everyone, and while not all of those pieces fit perfectly, things do total up to a net positive. Take a look at how the game comes together and see if this charming adventure might be for you.

Review

Budai

I'm only just now getting started. I'm loving the introduction, its taking no time making things interesting.

I do have to wonder about characters speak bubbles are so quick I often don't have time to read them, not to mention the text is very small.

Phillip Willis

Thank you for the detailed review! Good stuff.

riulyn

Glad to read that you enjoyed the game. May pick this game up in the future.

LordGolbez

I didn't care too much for the battle system of the original. It's a little hard for me to tell from this if it's improved. The RTS battles sound fine, but I'm not sure if they remedied the problems I had with the original's battle system in general. It's also kind of hard to put into words what my problem with the combat system of the original was. It just felt awkward.

SilverMouri

Budai wrote: »

I'm only just now getting started. I'm loving the introduction, its taking no time making things interesting.

I do have to wonder about characters speak bubbles are so quick I often don't have time to read them, not to mention the text is very small.

I am really, really, really hoping that they patch those text bubbles to be bigger. I've missed 2 or 3 of them already because it's just so tiny, and it goes away so quickly. Like no one can literally read a paragraph of text that quickly. I question would of it been that bad if they had at least voice acted the floating text bubbles. I mean I don't mind the limited VA. I tend to skip through it because I can read it faster anyways, but in the regards of the bubbles I feel like it might of helped it since it's so small.

I know I see people complaining that the combat system is easy, and they dislike it but I am actually liking it a lot better the NNK 1. I hated the familiar system so this is way better to me. It kind of reminds me of a Tales game in a way in terms of combat, and I like the Tales games combat enough to enjoy it.

The higgles totally look like the tree spirits from Mononoke though. They are so adorable!

Charalampos Papadimitriou

Those text bubbles are impossible to read and disappear very quickly . For all I know the characters are super well developed - but done only through those text bubbles :D I couldn't read them in time on my 55" TV.

As far as the battle system, it's got a lot of neat systems, but unlike the first one where you needed to plan specific things with specific familiars and characters and actively switch between them, it's much more laid back, and you can do just fine with only using attacks, abilities, and items of any one character. I think NNK2 combat would have been a lot better if enemies telegraphed moves more while also dealing more damage. One thing that's really fun about fighting the optional bosses, even though they are often the same as lower level enemies, is the massive damage they do that really forces you to be careful. But often they don't telegraph enough, so the 2 hit kills can be annoying.

I'm a bit biased on combat though, NNK1 had one of my top combat systems ever. A lot of people will say this, but it's easy to hate the NNK1 combat (I initially did) but once it 'clicks' of how its intended to be played, it's amazing, and requires your attention and execution for many things.

Wheels

Lord Golbez wrote: »

I didn't care too much for the battle system of the original. It's a little hard for me to tell from this if it's improved. The RTS battles sound fine, but I'm not sure if they remedied the problems I had with the original's battle system in general. It's also kind of hard to put into words what my problem with the combat system of the original was. It just felt awkward.

It seems that is nothing like that of the original at all, it's a solid action based, system

Orophin

I liked the story, setting and atmosphere of the first game, but I didn't like the battle system. Sadly, I only made it about halfway through that game before I gave up playing it.

I wouldn't say I go out of my way to play action-based RPGs a lot, but this one isn't too difficult (maybe a gripe for some) that I can tolerate it, and I definitely enjoy it a lot more than the first game. Not sure how far in I am (just finished the arc with the dog gambling town) but so far I'm enjoying it.

MyopicMirror

I found the first game to be compelling from the start, but the second game not so much. I've been pretty bored with it until I started building my kingdom pretty recently, hopefully it will continue to improve(and hopefully the text will be patched).