Ni no Kuni™ II: Revenant Kingdom

[b]Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom[/b] is wonderful RPG with so many enjoyable elements. Some players might compare it to part 1 and be instantly put off by the fact that the creature collection aspect has been removed. If you have given this game a chance beyond the introduction, you will find it features many beautiful aspects as well. Gameplay is varied and consistently enjoyable. The real-time combat system is fast-paced and accessible, offering plenty of depth through character skills, weapons, and the weird looking creatures called Higgledies that provide tactical support. The boss fights are quite varied and enjoyable. The kingdom building system adds a rewarding strategic layer, allowing players to recruit citizens, develop facilities, and watch their kingdom grow over time. This part of the game was quite addictive and always made me come back. Side quests, skirmishes (not everyone's favourite), and exploration ensure there is always something meaningful to do. Achievement Hunters will be spending at least another 60 hours besides the main story line to get to 100% due to the heavy grind necessary to achieve end game kit. Some tips: - Do yourself a favour and play this game with a Controller. - In options: turn off horizontal and vertical camera when moving. - If the game doesn't start, play on Windowed. Full Screen has problems. - You can play the whole game on Normal difficulty and still get all achievements (except for "Ruiner of Wraiths"). This achievement requires you to play floors 81-100 of the labyrinth on at least Hard. - Don't sell any item called "Stinky Simple Slippers" or any other shoes with the prefix "Stinky". This will be required for a quest much later in the game and it's very frustrating to find another one of those shoes.

I’m conflicted, but here’s the bottom line: if you love JRPGs but hate kingdom or city-building mechanics, just skip this one. To be honest, the kingdom-building system was the only thing that kept me going. I even found myself leaving the game AFK for hours just to make sure my kingdom’s progress didn’t stall. But here’s the kicker: the best gear in the game isn’t even tied to your kingdom's development. Instead, the game forces you into a brutal, mindless grind heavily dictated by RNG. Finding this out was soul-crushing and made me just want to finish the story ASAP. I didn't even touch the three DLCs I downloaded. As for the story and graphics? They’re just average—nothing special, but not terrible either. And the music? Honestly, it’s dreadful. It’s incredibly repetitive and feels out of place in many areas. Truly a disappointing experience.

I think the best descriptor I can use to describe this RPG's story is "Deeply ideologically confused". While I did enjoy the gameplay well enough, it was serviceable, the core of any RPG is always the story and I had to [i]desperately[/i] turn off any sense of basic media literacy in order to not be continuously infuriated by it. If you like to be even the least bit aware of what a game's story is actually saying, do not play this game. It will drive you up the wall.

I purchased this game, along with the DLC, when it was heavily discounted. I am only giving a positive recommendation if you do the same. I would not have been happy if I had paid full price. TLDR: 6.5/10 I'm writing this review after having beaten the games main story line, and I'm going to have some vague spoilers, so please keep that in mind. I played one save only for the 95 hrs I have in the game, beat the final boss, and closed the game. Higgledy-help-me. I'll break it down into three parts, hrs 0-30, 30-60, and 60-90. I'm assuming some of those hours were just me AFK to eat and stuff. This wasn't all one play session, but I have been on a break from work... so it was pretty darn consecutive. 0-30 hrs: This was the most fun and exciting part of the game. The world was fresh and vibrant and seemed very expansive. I played with all graphics settings maxed out, and the game shows some age but looks lovely. Lots of fun Ghibli-esque graphics and orchestral music. Reaching the kingdom building sections of the game made me very excited to keep playing. The games combat style reminds me of the Dark Cloud series, albeit within the shell of a Final Fantasy style "bump the enemy and engage combat" mechanic. In fact a lot of this game seems very, very much like the Dark Cloud games. The military combat section of the game start here, I enjoy them at this time. All is well. 30-60 hrs: The games orchestral soundtrack is very lovely, however orchestras are expensive. This means you will be hearing a lot of the games soundtrack over and over again. By this point in time I had begun hearing french horns in my sleep. I would say at this point in the game I was completely sidelined by building a kingdom. I had made a number of concessions with myself about this game. It wasn't exactly great, but it was fun. The kingdom building is very constrained, you do not get to design a town. At least Dark Cloud would let you build buildings freely on a grid. This part of the game is more akin to a mobile game. You put buildings in the one place they go. Then you need citizens, which is cool! I enjoyed collecting new people with new abilities to my town. I had no idea what a lot of the buildings did, but I was content to just build and collect people. I did whatever main story line stuff I needed to do to unlock the next batch of possible citizens. This game has more fetch quests than I have ever seen in one game before, with citizens sometimes requiring 2 or 3 different fetch quests before they will join you. If this game was the only thing to survive an apocalypse, future aliens would assume that an Earth King's job was to bring people apples and cloth. 60-90 hrs: I reached my tolerance with the game. Unlocking the late game travel option was not fun. This is the part of the game that falls flat for me. My fresh and ever positive outlook began to wane. Eventually I found that there is a LOT of empty content to this game. I feel like more was planned, something happened to this game. There are vast parts of the over world that have little to nothing to do with the main game. Previously unreachable areas, like the desert and frozen lands, are only ever briefly visited and contain no cities, villages, or much of anything other than the same mix of ~15 enemies this game has. There is a massive and interesting set piece in the frozen land that has nothing to do with the game. I would have thought there were cool quests to do with it. Nope. I reached a point where it was either keep building my kingdom, or complete the main story line. I had several of my categories at S rank, and so I thought, well time to finish it. I did most of the final missions in one go. It was incredibly underwhelming. There's a frustrating military section. There is another large city that's completely empty of citizens or interesting lore. A series of mini boss battles that were easy despite me being under leveled, and then some very nice cut scenes that wrap everything up. Don't get me completely wrong, I enjoyed a lot of the end game story line, but there were just so many things I did that didn't matter at all. Most of the kingdom building didn't matter. I don't feel the Higgledy guys mattered much, other than being adorable and fun to have around. I could have cut my play time in half and finished the main story, I didn't use most of the party characters. Lots of little things. Decent fun if it's 90% off and you want a feel good JRPG (just don't buy the DLC). Overall: 6.5/10 Great play value/dollar only when on sale. Great for younger/teen audience as well. Graphics: 7/10 It's a mixed bag, the over world looks like RPG Maker, but a lot of the art is nice. Lofty & Higgledy's: 10/10 Music: 8/10 But after the 2,000th time, I think I could transcribe the sheet music from memory. Game play: 5/10 Very basic combat, lots of re-used gimmicks and sub plots from other Level 5 games. The military mini-game is as other reviews say, confusing. I also couldn't find a way to level the military up enough to do about HALF of the later game quests. I ended the game with my squads at around Level 22. Citizen gathering starts fun but gets tedious. A lot of this game starts fun and gets tedious. Puzzle sections are frustrating too, or anything timed. Story: 7.5/10 Decent story, fun cast of characters, lots of nice citizen dialog. Very full story early game, but kind of saves all the last cutscenes for the ending.

[h1]"В этой стране все будут улыбаться, хотят они того или нет"[/h1] [i]Вечерело. Мистер президент едет на переговоры о прекращении мировой войны. Краем глаза он успевает уловить шлейф от пролетающей вблизи ядерной ракеты. Вспышка и полная тишина. Возможно это конец... Приложив усилия и открыв глаза он видит перед собой мальчишку, правда на его голове кошачьи уши, а сбоку видна кисточка распушившегося хвоста. "Даже на небесах есть чёртовы квадроберы" - подумал мистер президент и выстрел из своего именного кольта.[/i][hr][/hr] 🤔 [b]Эта игра представляет собой множество жанров, каждый из которых не доведён до совершенства![/b] Куда ни глянь везде будут упрощенные механики, которые легко сможет освоить даже ребёнок. Но при этом, постоянное чередование различных действий разбавляет и размазывает геймплей. Тут не будет 50+ часов однотипной беготни или пошаговых боёв. Вот вы на глобальной карте путешествуете своими чибиками, встречаете противников (коих можно обойти, никаких случайных боёв), загрузка и бой в реальном времени. Или же полноценными персонажами изучаете пещеры, без каких-либо загрузок вступает в бой и выходите из него. А потом как в играх серии Total War ведёте боевые отряды к победе или защищаете своё королевство от захватчиков. Кстати о нём, о королевстве. Вам нужно будет его отстраивать, искать подданных, назначать их на работу, запускать исследования и т.п. А ещё придётся собирать ресурсы, крафтить вещи, решать головоломки (совсем детские), сражаться с боссами, ну и конечно выполнять второстепенные задания. Всё это так смешали, что вы постоянно будете [i]"прыгать"[/i] с одной задачи на другую, хотя и вольны забить на все активности и просто идти по сюжету. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3453184778 😡 Сразу напишу о минусах. Во-первых, у меня игра иногда замирала на полсекунды. Чинится это путём выставление приоритета реального времени в диспетчере задач. Было несколько случайных вылетов и пару раз я застревал в невидимых стенах. Местами будут неточности перевода на русский. Ну и эта игра просто [b]АД перфекциониста[/b]. Куда бы вы не пошли, везде будут лежать предметы и ресурсы. Подобрав их и вернувшись в эту локацию позже, или вступив в бой, вы обнаружите что предметы вновь лежат на своих местах. Если вы привыкли пылесосить всё и вся, то играть будет немножко некомфортно. Даже если вы уже прокачались и все эти камешки и веточки вам уже давно не нужны, вас всё равно будет тянуть собрать эти светящиеся объекты. Разнообразие врагов удручает, многие имеют одинаковую основу с измененым цветом или добавленным хохолком. 😀 Ну а теперь, покончив с [i]сухим[/i] описанием, я расскажу почему я провёл почти 90 часов в этой детской игре. Она доудори нашпигована намёками, отсылками и имеет двойственность почти в каждом своём аспекте. Главное это знать куда смотреть и хотеть это увидеть. Если вы не заметили всех тех вещей, о которых я напишу ниже, то не беда. Возможно моё восприятие уже искажено, или же вы просто чисты и наивны. Реинкарнация нашего мистера президента проходит гладко и он начинает изучать новый мир. Тут есть отдельные королевства, которые устанавливают свои режимы и которые нам придётся усмирить и сдружить. Нести [i]"демократию"[/i] и [i]"правильное"[/i] мировоззрение придётся на протяжении всей игры, а значит добрый кусок сюжета будет связан с политикой. Кто-то кого-то пытается подсидеть, правителей травят ядами, а народ используют в качестве разменной монеты. В каждом королевстве что-то гипертрофированно. Я коротко опишу их, так вы лучше поймете всю абсурдность этой детской игры: [list][*]Королевство No1 выстроено в восточных тонах, в нём все помешаны на удаче и азарте. Тут совершаются ритуалы, астрологи важнее ученых, а жители носят красные труселя для повышения вероятности выигрыша. Судьбы людей, принятие законов, налогов и прочего решается путём бросков игральных костей. Так и хочется процитировать заставку из мультсериала нулевых: [b]"Апатия, Жадность, Коррупция, Власть"[/b]. Лишь Надежды нет... Тут прогнило абсолютно всё и за улыбками местных псов (это королевство собак 🐶) кроется дикая печаль и уныние. [*]Королевство No2, имеет яркие черты древних государств: колонны, геральдика, одежда. Прототипом служит Атлантида и романы Оруэлла. Ну вы ведь знаете - [i]"министерство любви нам заклеит глаза"[/i], изменение истории (Океания и Остазия всегда были друзьями) и жесткий контроль перемещений по городу. Да тут даже есть всевидящее око, которое словно большой брат наблюдает за жителями. Могли бы ещё книжки запретить, Брэдбери точно был бы доволен. Всё это обосновано сюжетом, но имеет огромную дыру, ведь как только наши герои попадают в это королевство... хотя сами узнаете. [*]Королевство No3, грязная фабричная страна. Люди умирают от переработок, ИИ сходит с ума, а окружающая территория выжжена химикатами. Сталкивание между собой живого и неживого, ума и разума, прогресса и традиций. Чем вы готовы пожертвовать ради достижения целей?[/list] 😮 В игре есть ещё королевства, но для описания всего мне не хватит строк обзора. Скажу лишь что откуда наши герои спасаются очень сильно похоже на КНДР с её закрытыми границами и солнцеликим правителем на которого молятся все жители. Да даже наша новосозданная страна имеет свои странности, ведь мы по мановению руки отправляем людей (детей) в шахты или заставляем без продыха заниматься рыбалкой и торговлей. [b]Эван Дорисфан Няндал[/b] - наш царь, который как чума проносится по городам собирая всех немощных и богатых в кучку и переманивает их в свою страну улыбок для дальнейшей эксплуатации. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3459928953 😳 В игре просто безумные второстепенные задания. Вас попросят принести ботинки с душком, ведь в королевстве завёлся фетишист готовый скупать подобную обувь. Феминистки будут искать женственность, а мужички-бухарики будут просить ребёнка принести смузи для похмелья. Чуть ниже будет скриншот, на котором изображено нечто странное и есть описание в комментах. Просто посмотрите на это. И данные вещи, как и всё остальное дети просто не заметят и не поймут. Для них эта игра будет веселым времяпровождением со сбором фуняшей (духи из произведений Миядзаки), поиском друзей и победой над злом. Для любого взрослого игра будет совсем про другое. Геноцид народов, высмеивание институтов власти, экологические катастрофы. Главное всё это видеть. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3457399358 💵 Отдельно про [b]платные DLC[/b]. Они сильно расширяют игру и их можно пощупать уже с середины путешествия, хотя основной контент откроется после прохождения сюжета. Дополнения улучшают боёвку, ведь в основной игре затыкивания врагов не очень вариативно. Появляются лабиринты, боссы и новая экипировка. А самое главное закрываются сюжетные моменты. Вам расскажут о судьбах героев, предысторию мира и кое-что ещё. В общем стоит прикупить. У меня было заготовлено ещё очень много примеров, но они сюда не влезли. Да и наверно не стоит описывать вообще всё. [b]Игра мне понравилась[/b], как и первая часть, хотя они почти никак не связаны и совсем разные по геймплею. • Обзоры других игр этой серии: [url=steamcommunity.com/id/Horellko/recommended/798460/]"Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch"[/url]. [b]Итог:[/b] [u]+1 в копилку любимых игр[/u] 👍👍👍[hr][/hr] Курирую в "Steam" - [url=store.steampowered.com/curator/44823445/]тут[/url].

This game is a crasy downgrade from the quality of Ni no kuni 1.

Про эту игру хочется рассказывать и рассказывать, не смотря на то что изначально я относился к ней предвзято за счёт того что она для меня выглядела детской (сюжетная часть) я всё же решил дать ей шанс и не пожалел, эта игра имеет великое множество положительных качеств и заканчивать прохождение было грустно (то самое чувство когда заканчиваешь проходить игру в которую влюбился), отметить хочется множество деталей но понятное дело я не "Обзорщик" там какой либо да и по комментариям Стима мало кто ориентируется но не могу не сказать что игрушка стоит вашего внимания и вот почему: -В ней большое количество разных механик (К сожалению большая часть бесполезная либо же выглядит как рудимент) -Красивая графика (Для тех кого не отпугивает аниме стилистика она будет шедевром (наверное)) -Относительно хороший и в некоторых случаях забавный сюжет (Да детский но если абстрагироваться от логики и просто наслаждаться повествованием то он Вам может понравится) Считаю что Вам тем кто сейчас сидит и думает "А стоит ли она моего времени и денег?" (Кстати со скидкой за копейки можно взять) Я рекомендую к покупке, и да, это JRPG и в нём есть фарм НО для комфортной игры на средней сложности фармится особо и не надо, просто откиньтесь с джойстиком в руках (ежели такой имеется) и наслаждайтесь красочным аниме шедевром! Всем удачи и добра! <3

I wish this rating system was a little less binary. I have mixed feelings about this title. I have rated it negatively, but I don't hate the game. It is, however, deeply flawed. The overarching narrative is decent, though at times predictable, and even a bit rushed. Regardless, it was a solid story. That said, while the characters were likeable, they weren't special. At no point did I find myself connecting with any of them. I formed no attachment at all, and if you were to remove any individual character from the game, I don't believe the dynamic would change at all. Any depth to any character is surface deep at best, and any time they attempt to be deep, contemplative, motivational, or perseverant it just doesn't feel believable. This isn't helped by the voice acting. When they commit to actually voice acting a scene, it's usually pretty good. At least for most of the characters. A couple are a little thin. The quality doesn't matter much since most of the time you don't actually get any voice acting. Instead you get a noise, or a word, at the start of each line of dialogue as you read it. Acceptable practice 25 years ago. now it's just lazy. I expect better from Level 5. The gameplay is fun at times, with the combat system being fairly engaging, but eventually becomes a bit repetitive. The skirmish fights are even worse in the repetition department, and felt more like button mashing and luck, rather than strategy. Though it would be unfair to completely write it off as my dislike for the system kept me from exploring everything it had to offer. It could be very competent, and I just didn't quite get there. The exploration in this game is severely lacking. The world map has a lot of regions and things to see, but exploring it will rarely reward you. Occasionally you will find a dungeon that you didn't know anything about, but most of the time there is nothing to find in them until you activate a specific side quest that takes you there. Most of the side quests are simple fetch quests, or basic single monster hunts. I've not found them to be very interesting, nor do they typically expand on the world lore, or contribute to character development. The town/kingdom building in this game can be pretty fun, but for me it was mostly something to do while I was deciding whether I wanted to do fetch quests or push the story along. All those things combined make for a pretty mediocre experience for me. At times good, at other not so much. The game never quite seems to know what it wants to be, and so it shifts its focus back and forth from its many mechanics, which at times can pull you out of the story. On a positive note, the music and the artwork in this game are fantastic. The visuals are very immersive, and the music can really add to that immersion when they pair the right track with the scene. Though that doesn't always happen, and sometimes it feels like a lot of the tracks are recycled, which can take away from the uniqueness of any given area, depending on what is playing. All in all I would give this game a solid 5 out of 10. Right down the middle. I enjoyed myself at times. I didn't in others. It may check more boxes for you than it did me, but I would not recommend this game outside of a deep discount, having most of your backlog cleared or just needing a break from whatever your go to game(or series) happens to be.

喜欢满世界找人才，然后慢慢练满，有种放置游戏慢慢攀科技的感觉（玩放置游戏玩的属于是）。

I wish I could give this a middling score. It's not a bad game by any means, but what its is, is complicated. Below, I'll be posting a spoiler-filled rundown of what my issues and loves for this game were. For a Tl;dr, I'd give this game a 7/10. Fun, but not as good at the 1st game. This sequel abandons a lot of what made the original so unique - gone is the Familiar system, as well as the heavy lean into hands-on learning. One of my big, early complaints was the loss of the Wizard's Companion; the first game's spellbook, full of creative flavor text, lore about the world, folklore, and ancient legends that reflect on current events. This added in a very fun system - making people [i]read[/i]. To finish some puzzles, you would need to scour the compendium, read the stories, learn the history for yourself, and grow alongside Oliver. It wasn't some pop-up on screen that narrated the story at you, but an account written by the holders of the book, telling their story. It was far more immersive and engaging. The gameplay is a bit more hands-on than the first game; the original had a very click-and-go style to it. Attacking, for instance, was automatic once you hit the "attack" button, giving you some degree of control over NPCs. One of my big gripes of the 1st game was how the NPCs would actively chase down recovery items, denying the player the ability to restore mana or health with anything but items. The sequel fixes this by having less of an emphasis on pick-up items, but also by leaning more into recoverable mana through attacks and equipment. The "auto-attack" aspect was removed, making the game feel more hands on, with active combos to use unique attacks. One thing I genuinely missed were runes. It's a small thing in the original, but every spell had an accompanying rune, which had neat lore implications. For instance, the spell to summon powerful monsters is a combination of two different runes, which shows the living aspect of the world - it feels like mages genuinely experimented with magic to discover these new things. The way spellcasting felt in the original was more snappy, too. It's hard to explain, but in the first game, I [b]felt[/b] like a mage, whereas with the sequel, it feels like I'm playing a mage in an RPG. This isn't bad, but it lacks that oomph of the original. Lastly, there are the cutscenes, and this is at no fault of the game devs. Ni No Kuni 2 lacked the touch of Studio Ghibli, at least in full. They kept the art style consistent, which was a good idea, but the loss of fully animated cutscenes could be felt. The still images or 3d cutscenes lacked the whimsy and charm Ghibli's animations brought to the original. This is at no fault of the developers; Ghibli is not a video game company and were too busy to be a part of the sequel. [spoiler]However, my biggest issues come with the writing. My first complaint is on missed opportunities. Ni No Kuni 1 was a gem, a wonderful game with a rich, vibrant lore, fleshed out through in-game storytelling and the supplementary reading in the Wizard's Compendium. There were loads of untold stories: where would the world be generations later? Would we walk through the shoes of the Wizard King? Perhaps we'd play as the Sage of Ages? Maybe put in in Nazcaä? So many options. And yet, Ni No Kuni 2 completely throws the story of the original to the wayside. Not only is it set in an alternate dimension, they made it clear that the events of Ni No Kuni 1 happened, but happened in a way that was different to the original. The familiar characters were there to tug at your nostalgia, but the story had almost no relevance to the events of the first game. When I started in Ding Dong Dell, I was excited. I thought this surely must be a continuation, since the Tildrum line was still standing and it's freakin' Ding Dong Dell. But rapidly, it became clear this wasn't the case - from the map being wholly different to nations being entirely unfamiliar, to core lore being entirely absent, replaced with new supplements - such as Kingmakers instead of Familiars. [spoiler]One of the key points in the 1st game's story was the cyclical nature of the world - how history repeated itself. Oliver was just one in a long line of people who lost everything they loved. But unlike the other people in the story, he embraced the pain, and didn't walk the road of vengeance instead. He broke the cycle. The nature of Oliver and Shaddar was not overt - there were clues there that one could follow, inconsistencies in the narrative that, if you looked closely enough, showed you the twist before it got close to it. The Doloran/Roland reveal was ham-handed in comparison. Not only was it retreading that same plot point - a Soulbound villain, tied to the hero, with a "if you wish to kill me, you must kill yourself" narrative. I understand the cyclical nature narrative, but come on. In the original, Oliver was confronted with this reality, then followed through, still destroying Shaddar and almost being erased himself. This was far more poignant in comparison to Roland, who simply beats his double up, then doesn't need to deal with that conflict again. It goes to show the vast gap between the two, in terms of emotional weight. I wasn't so bothered by the story sharing similar beats - a boy coming to bring all the nations of the world together, under one banner - that fit the nature of cyclical storytelling far better. But it was those key moments, where they skipped on the chance to do something different or unique, that really hit me. Now, some good; I really enjoyed the Kingdom Building mechanics. It was oddly rewarding, and felt nice to upgrade things slowly, watching the progress as you grow from a wooden palace with only a few huts, to a thriving capital. Recruiting the key villagers was a really neat idea - having to actively go out and hire people who were knowledgeable felt right; personal. A bit more bad. Much like Shaddar and Oliver, the reveal of Pea and her role in the story was something you could figure out early on, without being spoon-fed the truth. However, Ferdinand was absolutely uninteresting. His name only comes up a few times: once from Boddy, then from Evan in a speech, and maybe one more time. But ultimately, he wasn't a major or interesting character. But surprise: he is a pseudo-time traveler who created a Bootstrap Paradox, and he is actually Evan's son. Boddy is a seer, somehow. Time Magic in Ni No Kuni 1 was extremely fickle and dangerous; you could only leap through time once. Now, a character is randomly born who can just [i]send their mind through time from birth, because reasons.[/i] It all lacked the punch of Pea being the "inner child" of the game's Big Bad. Now, some more good. I did love [i]most[/i] of the game's writing. Was it cheesy and cliche? Sure, but no more than the original. One must remember, this is a game geared for younger audiences. With that in mind, there is a clear throughline in the narrative that remains strong. But I do think some things could have been better touched upon. In fact... How the flippin' heck did Roland end up in another Dimension? In Ni No Kuni 1, Oliver needs to open the gate himself - nobody is just [i]brought across dimensions[/i] with no rhyme or reason. And yet, here's Roland, being scooped across dimensions, just because. And did they seriously open the game up with New York City being nuked? Excuse me? Could you, like... explain that a bit? Why the heck was NYC getting bombed? It's massive tonal whiplash, and not in a good way.[/spoiler] I enjoyed Ni No Kuni 2. I played through the whole game - writing this while the credits are paused on the other screen - and am now about to start tackling post-game content. But if someone asked me whether the first or second was best, I would very clearly tell them: "Play the first. It's the far superior game."