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Ni No Kuni Release First impressions
Topic Started: Jan 23 2013, 02:33 AM (929 Views)
hooflung128
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Ok so I just spent like 5 hours of my evening being completely inspired by this game. I knew it would be good but rarely am I overly satisfied by a game I have set a high expectation for. This game oozes quality. It has a battle system I am finding to be absolutely stellar. It feels like something old yet something new. Just when you think it's easy, it slaps you a bit to remind you that you are still in the courting phase and first base is still a distant horizon.

Exploration is just wonderful. Even though the first hours are limited in scope the perspectives of the camera for different modes of exploration, or trail blazing, seem to set a complete sense of immersion into the motif. Hell the text without voice acting sprinkled about is just about the only thing that breaks the illusion ever so slightly and reminds me this is a jrpg.

This game, for me, resonates in the story aspect to. My mother is 77 and won't be with me forever and the story has powerful pulls to my heart strings. Especially since this type of animation I grew up with so it pretty much tugs me a bit making the journey some what personal. Ghibli alway knew how to do it, and I never thought some it could be translated so well to the interactive medium.

Level 5 should be absolutely proud of this game. Right now it's hitting 10/10 with me and sets the bar so high for goty I doubt any game will come close for me.

Well done level 5, well done. Oh and it's simply drop dead gorgeous and the sound is spectacular. Yeah, game is so good I rambled on without even mentioning them to the end. Playing with English voice actors and not regretting it. Buy this game!
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MidiPour
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Power of Sardines

FFStv's playthrough basically sold me on this game. Like I've told others, I thought the game would be contrived, and that a studio ghibli effort wouldn't mesh well as a game. To my surprise, I found the game as heartwarming as Kiki's delivery service (the most recent Ghibli film I've seen) with its dialogue and quirky characters, and even the voice acting was good. I will definitely he picking this up.
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Richard
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The anticipation is killing me, that Wizard's edition better be shipping soon.
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lol_pc
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Damn you americans! I still have 1½ days of waiting before I get my copy...
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Lavitz
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The game is beautiful, the anime cutscenes are nice too although they seem a bit jittery. The intro was really sad and the amazing music of the game made it even more emotional, I really like the world map theme and I can't wait to hear the rest of the music within the game. The world feels a lot like Dragon Quest VIII to me, I'm sure others feel the same. Battle system is something new and feels fresh, it's like Pokemon but you have full control, kinda funny how this is what a lot of Pokemon fans have been wanting from the series.

I have a feeling this will be my game of the year.
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pokemonzrpg
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Awesome thoughts hooflung, it's amazing to see that this game is resonating so well with PS3 owners (Game Informer gave it a 7, by the way). Although I don't own a PS3 myself and probably won't for some time since I only just got the Wii U for Christmas, this is one of the games that makes me jealous. I will most likely watch the majority of farfromsubtle's playthrough on it so that I can at least experience the game in some way.
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hooflung128
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Gosh... My body ached to get home today and play it. Side missions in this game so far haven't been overly challenging but they really help setting Oliver's place in the worlds. It is somewhat classical fairy tail style that in the real world everyone worries for Oliver but in the magical realm people see and talk to you differently.

I know this is still standard jrpg coming of age fantasy trope but I don't think I've seen one tackle it this well and bring it together so well. Oh and don't listen to anyone who says Drippy's welsh is overdone. To me it is down right perfect. I usually do Japanese voice acting if available but not here, ne'way mun.
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RockmanDash12
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TIS GAME IS AMAZING. I really love it. I've played 1-2 hours, love how ghibli it is, and the map is amazing.
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Richard
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Just got a cancellation email for my wizard's edition and a coupon code for them being sorry. Wtf is this shit? They instantly charged $120 to my bank account and then this happens.

I had a feeling about this so I never cancelled my European order. Still, this is really really bad.


Calling tomorrow and I may threaten to sue them. You cannot instantly take money out of my bank account, cancel my order after the game has already been out, and just think a simple email and a stupid coupon to save money on their shitty site is going to go well for them. They are located in California and I could easily start a class action lawsuit against their company. Maybe I should have my lawyer call them for the hell of it just to make them piss their pants so badly they go on ebay and buy one for me.

I am so pissed off about this because their are tons of copies on ebay that were sold to freaking resellers who could give two shits about the game. I am a true fan and I did all the necessary steps to get this item. They are going to get a mouth full tomorrow. I know its just a game, but it is the principle that counts. If a lot of other people located in California encounter the same problem, then I could probably get this lawsuit done for free and sue the living shit of Namco Bandai for business malpractice. They are going to have show document after document in court proving that my money or anyone else's involved in this lawsuit was not spent on anything, until my order was shipped. Their accounting department is going to have a hell of a time with this.
Edited by Richard, Jan 23 2013, 11:03 PM.
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In a realm beyond sight.
The sky shines gold,not blue.
There,the triforce's might
Make mortal dreams come true.


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hooflung128
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That is truly a shame Richard. I have noticed a resurgence of direct stores from publishers and to me the only good one is N.I.S. USA. Even squares web store and account system is terribad.

Hopefully you get to play this game soon. It is worth the wait. I just lost my first battle to a very creepy boss. Been on it for 3.5 hours so decided to stop for tonight.
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Richard
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hooflung128
Jan 23 2013, 11:20 PM
That is truly a shame Richard. I have noticed a resurgence of direct stores from publishers and to me the only good one is N.I.S. USA. Even squares web store and account system is terribad.

Hopefully you get to play this game soon. It is worth the wait. I just lost my first battle to a very creepy boss. Been on it for 3.5 hours so decided to stop for tonight.
waiting for the digital river customer service right now. They will fix this because they know it is illegal to instantly charge my bank account and then cancel my item days after on top of that not even refund my money. They have the nerve to send me an email that I should receive a refund in the next few days or longer.

I don't disclose my public life, but I do know how business works and I can go into things like currency exchange and devaluation and such of my money. Money today is worth more than tomorrow(simple business terms) and they have had my money for awhile. If they want to refund me double of what I paid then I will accept that. I can argue that I could have invested that money on something else and made X amount of money, but instead I chose to buy this product. The worst thing of this whole thing is that they didn't send me an instant refund. If they did that then my case would have been weaker for sure, but telling me to wait while my money is in their hands and being spent on God knows what is unbelievable. You can instantly refund people's money manually it is not that hard of a concept.

I have had this type of shit happen to me before, but in those instances I had no case because they never charged me and just cancelled my order. It was a bad move and not good business at all, but it was LEGAL. I have never had someone cancel my order, take my money, and delay my refund all the same time. Imagine if you went to target or walmart or something and bought something and charged you at the register, then proceeded to say oops it is out of stock and when you ask for a refund they say please wait a week for your money back. I am pretty sure you could call in the police at that point. Just because this is an online transaction doesn't change the law.

Edit: Bandai's forums are in an uproar right now and rightfully so. It is not my job to give Bandai an interest free loan. If they don't produce more of these they should be required to have their accounting department send everyone proof that 0 dollars were spent off of any pre-order of this game or transferred to any other department. What a complete and utter joke. Freaking thieves and crooks until they fix this as far as I am concerned.

If this isn't illegal, then what is freaking stopping me from creating a site and claiming to have an item, then taking 1000s of dollars off of pre-orders. I could loan that money or invest it make a bunch of money, then refund everyone. Bandai doesn't have proof they didn't spend our money. I didn't buy freaking Bandai stocks, I bought a freaking game. The thing that pisses me off the most is that half the stock was bought by freaking resellers. They always seem to get their copies somehow... This type of thing happened to me with the Sky art book set, but I WAS NEVER CHARGED. It pissed me off, but they didn't steal anything from me. What happened today is theft in my opinion. It is one thing for a 3rd party site to fail, but for a company to screw over its most loyal fanbase is beyond BEYOND unacceptable. BTW they even cancelled orders for people who ordered the original "kickstarter funding" copies from several months back. Talk about the ultimate backstabbing.

One person wrote about how he is putting himself through law school and money is extremely tight. He talked about how he has disabilities and he worked super hard to save up the money to be able to get this freaking game and his order was cancelled. It broke my heart reading this and just seeing those copies on ebay just makes me angrier.
Edited by Richard, Jan 24 2013, 01:51 AM.
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In a realm beyond sight.
The sky shines gold,not blue.
There,the triforce's might
Make mortal dreams come true.


PSN: MicrosoftSnake
XBL: xCKx Snake

YouTube Gaming Channel
http://www.youtube.com/user/TriforceRich
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Lavitz
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Not to sound like a jerk, but this is a first impressions thread, maybe you should make a different thread about how terrible DigitalRiver is (I know how incompetent they are)
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AndsyRR
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I'm dying of anticipation here. We have a WEEK to wait here in the UK - But I've hopefully secured a Wizard's Edition. :D

I made the mistake of showing the wife the first bit of the FFS.Tv playthough - up until the big plot point, and she instantly wanted it. So, when it arrives, no doubt she'll play it first :|
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SwitchStyles
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I bought the game on Tuesday. I used 2 of my vacation days from work so I could have Tuesday through Friday off. I just hit the 15 hour mark and got Swaine to join my party. It's a real blast. I'm loving the visuals and the gameplay is top notch. It reminds me a lot of a Tales game because of the simple fact of how I can run around and control my character during the battles. Boss fights are great. Not too hard, not too easy (at least not right now anyway). I'm having fun trying to capture familiars and customizing my party to my liking. The anime cutscenes are real nice although I haven't seen a lot since I've gotten to Al Mamoon, but when they do come up... I love them because I love Studio Ghibli movies.
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bstrong7890
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Got my copy yesterday and I am almost 4 hours in. So far I am adoring it. The story sucked me in almost immediately and am really enjoying it. The visuals are pleasing to the eye, music is great and I love how the gameplay is like a combination of Final Fantasy/Dragon quest and Pokemon. So while I am not that far into the game i can already recommend it to jrpg fans and fans of Studio Ghibili
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thejobloshow
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Alright, here I come to be a grump. I'm having a hard time getting 'into' the world of Ni No Kuni... I'm about five hours in and the amount of hand holding is driving me up the wall. The story unfolds like an instructional manual and the balance seems off - although that's probably just me trying to get used to the combat system. Visually it's impressive and the soundtrack and voice acting are fine... but I'm starting to understand why the game got such a mediocre reception in Japan.

At this point of time, the Atelier Arland trilogy are my favourite JRPGs for the PS3. Hopefully things will change soon when the game stops introducing new mechanics and keeping me on crutches.
Edited by thejobloshow, Feb 2 2013, 09:23 PM.
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ArcTheGamer
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I'm about 10+ hours in - just completed the Temple of Trials and got Esther's "Serenade" ability. Things are starting to open up for me, and I have been enjoying every single bit of it so far!

It's really a fantastic, well-made JRPG and the music is just mesmerizing IMHO (the world-map tune especially). This is one of those games that really make me want to immediately order the game's full soundtrack from CDJapan. Is anyone also thinking about getting the OST? =)

Cheers,
ArcTheGamer




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stickdude2320
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im about 15 hours in at historic hamelin right now ( got my wizard's edition on wednesday). One of the things i liked the best are the side quests. in western rpgs i go all out doing everything quest I can, but generally in jrpgs i just focus on the main quest. however in this game every time i get to a new town I try to finish every side quest I can. did anybody else find the music in fairyground amazing! overall i think its an amazing game with great music,story,battle system, and of course graphics. the only area I think its lacking is the characters, I can't really connect with Oliver.
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maverickbna
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I pre-ordered the standard edition of the game on Amazon, along with the guide. The game arrived at my office (thanks Amazon Prime!) the day of the release, and I took it home and popped it in.

JAW DROP GORGEOUS! This is the RPG that I've been waiting for since PS1 times! This was the killer app for me to get a PS3, also given the price was right, the MAGfest charity auction was a *great* deal on a PS3... :)

While I can tell when the scenes are straight drawn, the cel-shading and the quality of the rendering makes the gameplay so close that I can easily imagine myself being in a Ghibli film.

Instant classic! :]
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Granasaber
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Loving it so far, very whimsical and charming.
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thejobloshow
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Okay, I'm over the slump and I'm really enjoying the game once I get my FREEDOM. My God, there's so much to do in this game... the side missions, the alchemy, the monster hunter system... I'm going to sink a lot of hours into this bad boy.
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hooflung128
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Glad to hear it joblo!
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SwitchStyles
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I'm around 25 hours or so in and now I'm able to fly around the overworld with my
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