R³ Gaming - NI NO KUNI: Wrath of the White Witch. -MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS-

'Sup guys,

Welcome readers to the first ever part of the blog's R³ section. This time we'll be looking at one of the most epic JRPG of recent times. Ni NO KUNI: Wrath of the White Witch. Available on PS3 and Nintendo DS.


-START HERE-

We began our story in a sort-of-rural area called the Motorville. Our main protagonist, Oliver, 13 year old boy was a young engineer of sort. While trying out a new vehicle that was designed by his best friend Philip, he was involved in an accident and was almost drowned until he was saved by his mother- Allie. Soon after the incidence, his mother died. He then embarks on a journey to the other world along side Mr.Drippy, Lord High Lord of the Fairies to save his mother and defeat the Dark Djinn,

-GAMEPLAY-

This gameplay style is quite new to me. It's a hybrid system gameplay whereby the players are able to control the characters' but the actions are some what active time based. Secondly, to better explain this game, think Poke'mon. Yes, I said it right. Poke'mon. Now why did I say that. Well, unlike normal jRPG where you as the Hero fight your own battles, this game revolves around uses of monster fighting each other. The one's you have are called farmiliars. Once you nurture your farmiliars to a certain level, you are able to evolve them. (See, what'd I told ya, Poke'mon). In addition to that, you can also "capture" wild farmiliars and make them your own. Now, as all jRPGs have in common is always the grinding system. This is not an exceptional to NI NO KUNI. But what's different is that NI NO KUNI is able to actually make your grinding a lot of fun. I actually spent more on grinding missions and levels more than actually play the storyline. The sidequests are called errands whereby you help people with their problems and stuff. By doing so you get stamps and filled up your errand cards, you can exchange for bonus stuff to enhance and also ease your journey. Sure one can play for about 3 days to just finish the story line but, there's more than meets the eye is all I'm saying. One other thing that differs, NI NO KUNI from other games is that the involvements of players skills to read and decipher some encrypted messages. These can be done by reading your in-game book - The Wizard's Companion.

-GRAPHICS AND SOUNDTRACKS-

1 word. STUNNING!! They really able to make this game come alive. The texture, color, designs are just awesome. It's expected of it as this game was the product of collaboration between Level-5 and Studio Ghibli - Both are well known for their beautifully designed games. 2D anime-ish cut scenes are being presented in a "not annoying" manner, well, makes this game even more presentable. While playing this game, players are also being served with mind-blowing background soundtrack all performed by Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. Usually, I don't like these background musics, mainly cause some of them are too disturbing. But not for NI NO KUNI. I actually at some point, I forgot which place, the soundtrack is so calm and soothing I put down the controller just to enjoy it. In addition to that, due to this awesome soundtrack, it's becoming one of the factor, in my opinion, that players can enjoy grinding and not feel bored at all.

-STORY LINE-

I won't go too in-depth as to not spoil too much of the game. To put it simple, a boy lost his mom, met a fairy who told him 'bout magic, went to alternate world to destroy evil. Add in a few twist and turn. To me, this game has a decent story line. It's not like, mind F*CKIN WTF ARGHHHH!! kind of game despite there's being some unexpected twist 1 or 2 times. At some point players can kinda guess the how the story's going to progress as it being a bit too childishly mainstream. Some what give you the impression of this is a "kid's game". Despite that being said, anyone who enjoys RPGs will get their money worth out of this game.

-VERDICT-

Overall, I would totally recommend this game to those who enjoys jRPG as much as I do. My personal ratings for this game will be a 8.5/10.

Seriously this game is very very good.

Until next time,

Lebot, signing off.