Ni no Kuni™ II: Revenant Kingdom

8/10 100% and I played the whole game on Expert Gameplay 8: The base game(classic mode) is very basic and bland, the magic is also kind of a major downgrade from the first game. They also replaced the pokemon-like familiars with higgledies which tbh sometimes can be fun and useful especially the ones with revives but they could've just easily kept in the familiars, customize them with their own weapons and battle along the 3 main human characters like how the higgledies are but would attack like higgledy surrah(it kinda exists but only about 3 can do this). I did all the DLCs after I finished the base game, man BIG MISTAKE. Because ALL OF THE FUN MECHANICS ARE IN THE DLCS, I personally didn't use the mechanics one that much but ding dong disciple is a freakin cheat code because it works exactly like perfect dodge in BotW/TotK, Martha's Method is the perfect crowd control mechanic, and *drum rolls* WIZARD COMPANION FROM THE FIRST GAME WTH??? Might be too RNG for most people's tastes but I love it this way. Even on expert the whole game becomes easy with the Wizards companion but it's fun. I'll rate it 8 because fun should've been in the base game and not paywalled behind a DLC . Difficulty: The base game is easy, lots of surprise difficulty spikes though like Maussinger, Solosseum Slog 24 and 27 etc. The RTS Minigame is fun but is too tedious to complete them all because some of the are super HARD TO FIND Story 8: Title should've been "THAT TIME THE US PRESIDENT GOT REINCARNATED AS A PRIME MINISTER-SWORDSMAN" But jokes aside, the story is to be honest, kind of boring and the game just expects you to like certain characters like Nella who you'll just talk for 5 minutes. This game also makes world domination, power consolidation and corporate greed destroying mother nature "cute" and just explains some of the remaining hanging questions through menial UNVOICED sidequests. Also, the continent where Broadleaf is has a giant plane in the north that feels like Hamlin-related, never explained or mentioned, they just pretend it's not there. There's also a desert area but is just kinda useless since you only go there to find mcguffins for story quests; feels like Al-Mamoon should've been here but no explanations on why it's not there. Also the mer-people would just disappear once some characters get married, some of those mer-people are essential employees in your new kingdom and they're just gonna go poof someday. But some parts are kind of good especially Leander and the Queen's love story parts, and Tani and Evan's obvious future relationship(revealed by Tani's Tiara in the dress). Also I find it weird that Evan's a catboy because his mom's a furry and that's the only time it happens and no one cares, I guess everything is okay if the Royals are involved. But the game is very good at convincing you that Evan's a king worth fighting for and it did that for me and I think that's the point so I'll give it an 8 Music 10: Better than the first game but it's very annoying that most of the game is unvoiced, tani's "Flippin Heck" is iconic though. I love the King Maker battle music especially in the Broadleaf fight, EPIC. Graphics 7: I don't like the overworld and skirmish art style, they should've kept the thing they had going on in the first game, also NO ANIME CUTSCENES. But they did great with what they have, I'll rate it as a 7 because I know they could've done better as seen on Nino Kuni 1. But the smooth 3D art style on this game can also sometimes be good Overall the game's an 8 even though I spent so much hours in it. Because the amount of grinding you have to do for some decent gear is horrible but you won't notice it due to the art style being amazing but the dissatisfaction is still there, but if you like an easy-going action RPG with some simple kingdom building plus if you think grinding is a way to get more close with the characters then this game would be a 10 for you