Ni no Kuni: Review of Witch's Anger (Switch)



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In 2008, Level-5 would celebrate its tenth anniversary and wanted to create a project that would excite its staff, regardless of the level of sales, and the world was presented to Ni No Kuni: Another world. A two-pronged project, a version of it came to the Nintendo DS as the only one in Japan Ni no Kuni: the domineering jinn and the second version came to the PS3 on the international scale as expanded Ni No Kuni: Anger of the White Witch.

A letter of love to the JRPG's Golden Age, Ni No Kuni was unanimously applauded for his close loyalty to the famous artistic style of Studio Ghibli, coaching to contribute to animation and music. This title has had considerable success. in Japan and abroad. Six years after the date of publication of the PS3 title, Level-5 chose to transfer through the port Ni No Kuni: Anger of the White Witch to the Switch, marking the first time that Nintendo players have access to the full and extended version of the original vision of this project. Neither Kuni: The white witch's anger turns out to be an unforgettable and whimsical version of the role-playing game, and he deserves a home on your Switch.

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After a brief cold opening evoking the upcoming magical adventures, Ni No Kuni tackles the main story of a slightly naive young boy, Oliver, who lives in a small town in the United States, called Motorville. What begins as a comforting narration of childhood innocence quickly takes a poignant turn when an accident caused by Oliver causes the death of his mother pass away, making him orphan overnight.

Distraught and hurt by his loss, Oliver cries over a toy his mother made him and is shocked by the tears that bring him back to life. He is suddenly confronted by a strange, fast talking creature named Drippy, who speaks with a thick Welsh accent and claims to be the "Lord of the Fairies". Drippy explains to Oliver that there is a parallel world terrorized by an evil named Shadar. and, you guessed it, Oliver is the only whoever can hope to defeat Shadar. One thing leads to another, and the duo goes to the races, exploring the odd strange world that Drippy is from and building his team as he prepares for the final showdown.

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Although the plot is a little cliché, how many times have we heard the song and dance of "Chosen One"? – Ni No Kuni's greatest storytelling strength lies in his stellar writing and comforting messages. As evidenced by this disarming and tragic opening, Ni No Kuni is not a title that fears going to dark when it is necessary, but it is ultimately an edifying account that keeps coming back to the central idea of ​​becoming whole thanks to the support of others.

While Oliver, Drippy and the various allies that they recruit are advancing on the path of battle with Shadar, you can not help but feel a sense of connection with this team as you watch them surrender to many. times what they do to help them. around them. Along with this, Ni No Kuni has also expertly captured the concept of childlike wonder, as he introduces you to this strange and wonderful new world that resembles ours, but not quite. Whether you are reprimanded by a former wizard with the appearance and behavior of a toddler or trawler through a monster-infested sewer in search of the lost king of cats, you will rarely be able to guess what new creature or mission you find yourself living next. Even alongside many modern RPGs, Ni No Kuni's narrative and world-building is particularly charming and we found his story incredibly immersive.

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The typical game loop of a classic JRPG is alive and well here, your team traveling across the vast open world in different cities, according to the plot. Each city naturally has a problem (or a person with a problem) that can only be solved by Oliver and his friends, and their efforts inevitably lead them to enter a dungeon-like area and fight something big and of villain in the end.

Neither No Kuni breaks the mold of genre conventions in many ways, but its structure certainly is not part of it, which can be a disadvantage for some of you. Indeed, with this familiar structure, Ni No Kuni is also what could be called a slow combustion, many parts of the story having the impression to stretch a little longer than necessary. It's a testament to the excellent writing and intriguing details of the world that this laborious pace is so easily accepted, but just keep in mind that if you're not as easily seduced by the great graphics and sound tone, Ni No Kuni can prove useful. to be an unnecessarily tedious experience. It's worth it, but it will still require a substantial enough time for you to really "understand" it.

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This commitment of time also extends to the combat system, which is both frustrating and exhilarating. Not quite in real time or turn-based, Ni No Kuni uses a unique system that exploits many strengths of both fighting styles. Although you can directly control one of the party members, you will experience the essence of your experience by controlling pets (more on this in a moment) to do the dirty work for you.

Although they all share the health and magic pool of their owners, the pets have in addition the restriction of an endurance counter that limits their field time to around thirty seconds, after which you must score another pet or teammate. Whoever you control, you will have access to a mix of standard attacks, special moves, spells, and defensive maneuvers, each governed by payback times. If, for example, you use the standard "Attack" option, your character will automatically attack the target enemy while a gauge on the side of the screen will slowly flow. Once empty, you must wait for a faster gauge to empty before you can use the Attack command again.

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The effective management of all your cooldowns will be necessary to success, while being attentive to the positioning of the character. If you try to attack a distant target with a melee attack, for example, you will lose some of your valuable time when launching your character as your character attacks you. It seems like a difficult task to manage, but everything comes together after trying a bit and you see how flexible and engaging the fight is. That's when you're not busy trying to mitigate the mistakes of your team mates.

Do not let the cute visuals fool you; Ni No Kuni can be a without mercy ruthless experience at many points even with common enemy encounters in new areas requiring the dedicated efforts of all members of the team if you hope to stand out. Unfortunately, no matter how much you invest in optimizing your team's equipment and stats, much of this effort will be squandered by half-vengeful AI. If, for example, an enemy launches a fireball attack that burns the ground around the impact zone, your teammates are often happy to stay in hell because they are slowly being burned. Or, in a particularly blatant and recurrent example, many bosses have launched highly telegraphed super-attacks that hit everyone on the ground, regardless of their positioning. You are almost obliged to use the command Defend & # 39; when you see them coming, and you have plenty of time to do it, but your teammates are usually delighted to only eat the strength of the attack and die or consume. valuable healing resources to repair the damage.

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From our experience, a lot of boss fights were aimed as much at AI as the enemy who was attacking us, which makes it a rather frustrating experience at many suffocation points. The issue of suicidal teammates is somewhat quieted when you unlock with amazement a manual defense command for a dozen hours, but the problem of seeing them fly through limited resources and generally slowing down your efforts persists. Neither No Kuni is generous enough with his checkpoint system so that you can force your way through his most difficult sections with enough perseverance, but overall, many segments are made much more difficult than They should not because of the required participation of your poor partners.

When you're not busy worrying about the performance of your partners, you're definitely focusing on finding or training another pet, which is easily one of the most addictive contents and the most complete of Ni No Kuni. Except monster bosses, you have the ability to recruit any enemy creature after defeating it, and you are often encouraged to do so to keep pace with the increasing difficulty. Pets can be evolutionary, metamorphosis in stronger variants once you have leveled them up enough, and along the way, they will also learn a plethora of special moves that allow you to specialize the role of each family member in the team.

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There is literally hundreds to recruit as you embark on your journey, and as you level up almost every time you complete a battle, this loop of recruiting, upgrading and transfiguring fantastic sense of walking forward throughout the match. There is almost always someone else who has progressed or learned a new shot after your last victory, and experiencing new pets and new sets of moves proves that the fight has always fresh air, whether you live in twelve or forty hours.

When you do not raise the ladder or try to capture an elusive pet, you will spend a good deal of your time between the main stories, shopping for the different inhabitants of the places you visit. There are over a hundred side quests to be done throughout the story, and although they tend to use a variation of standard quest or standard monster hunting patterns, these little missions are essential to create that warm and fuzzy tone that makes Ni No Kuni such a beautiful experience.

Even if it's something as commonplace as finding missing children in the city or looking for a tree to find a man's diary, these parallel quests are really rewarding because you see how the party helps those who do them. surround. Then, of course, there is the gross reward offered by completing them. Beyond the mere promise of extra money and equipment for your party, these missions also aim to give you stamps, which are collected on several punch cards in ten steps. Once filled, these cards can be redeemed at a special store for special benefits, such as faster travel to the outside world or increased drop rates for some collectibles. Given the occasionally stiff peaks of difficulty in Ni No Kuni, it is almost necessary that you do a good job parallel when you reach a new area, but Level-5 has managed to make them rewarding in many ways.

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We would be remiss not to mention the unbelievable presentation that Ni No Kuni nails effortlessly throughout the experience. Studio Ghibili's contributions to the art direction are evident in almost every frame, but we were particularly struck by the small attention to seemingly unimportant detail in the animation. Things like how NPCs subtly move their heads to watch Oliver approaching him, or how Oliver will head almost imperceptibly towards a slightly more cautious approach when he goes down a flight of stairs will show how much artistic directors cared transcendent experience.

Neither No Kuni also offers an almost unparalleled environmental design, each area being traversed offering a masterly mix of rugged terrain and slightly claustrophobic decorations that truly defend the idea that these places are real. Best of all, the performance remains constant in docked mode or in pocket mode, and although the resolution does not exceed 720p in docked mode, we still can not deny the artistic style that makes it one of the most striking versions at this time. day on the Nintendo Switch.

The soundtrack was composed by Joe Hisaishi and performed in its entirety by none other than the Tokyo Philharmonic, and the quality of this creative force is evident in virtually every track. The majesty of the colorful visuals is complemented by a breathtaking musical performance, each piece reflecting a sense of fantasy or quirkiness that permeates almost every facet of Ni No Kuni. Although the main theme of the battle may become irritating in long sessions, we have always been impressed by the depth and breadth of the soundtrack. We strongly encourage you to use this headset with a headset if you play often in portable mode. .

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