NNK was the first game my child played. I got him NNK2, but sadly he’s not allowed screens for quite some time. Sucks, because I really want to play it. But then I’d be a bad dad.
As a non-dad, 90% of this post doesn’t make sense to me. :-) You got him a game you won’t let him play? You can’t play because you aren’t letting your kid play?
I bought it for him for Christmas (preordered in like August). It originally had a January release date. Then he got himself in big trouble in late January and lost screens as punishment until he makes amends.
he’s a very skilled procrastinator. Probably gets it from me.
Are you saying your kid has been grounded for around 2 months?
EDIT: Arguably this is spoilers, adding tags…
I’ll be a downer with you. I really liked the first 9 hours but am having trouble motivating myself to keep playing.
I think the biggest issue I have is kinda stupid: I just don’t buy anything that’s happening. This kid just decides he deserves to be a king and all of these people leave their previous lives behind to help him build a kingdom in the wilderness. They mostly don’t even require convincing! The first few times it happened, I shrugged and moved on, but it appears the focal story element of the game is people deciding to start their life all over again in the middle of a wilderness because a 10 year old boy kindly asked them to.
I don’t know why this is beyond my ability to suspend disbelief. I’m totally fine with a television world existing in Persona 4, but for some reason this boy-king is where my brain draws the line.
On the positive side, the dream dungeons are really cool! They’re randomly generated with perma-death (no saving inside them) and get harder over time. They encourage you to rush through them as quickly as possible which forces you to engage with the combat system aggressively (which I think makes it much more interesting and fun). If that was more of the game, I’d love it.
It also looks fantastic. I don’t understand the complaints about the appearance of the main character. I quite like his and all the character’s art direction. They’re very charming.
It always boggles me when someone complains about not buying a premise in a fantasy game. No offense, @porousnapkin. I think the game has done a decent enough job explaining why things are what they are.
Possible spoilers related to just the beginning of the game :
The kid was heir to an established kingdom, so it’s not like he’s just claiming to be a king. He was supposed to receive his kingmaker on the day the coup took place. It’s also been stated by several folks in the game that there is something “special” about him. I liken it to Joan of Arc myself. People are jumping into his idea of a kingdom where every one lives happily ever after. (see my “childish” complaint above),
So while I still feel like it’s pretty childish, it’s solid enough to be passable as a fantasy RPG story line, if not completely cliche’.
I agree. My complaint is totally irrational. I knew I was getting into a fantasy game with a kid focused setting and went in thoroughly expecting to be able to handle all that came with that.
Though I think my issue is slightly more specific.
I understand how the premise of the game has given him a destiny to rule. I don’t understand why the people who go to join his kingdom do so so readily (since joining a fledgling kingdom in the wilderness does not sound like a pleasant alternative to established civilization). Which is problematic because I have to believe these people are ready to do this over and over again since (so far anyway) that seems to be the focus on the plot.
I like your Joan of Arc comparison. I’d buy into it more if it felt a bit more like people were inspired by religion / destiny. I’m also able to buy it more when the people are escaping from shitty civilizations (which happens a bit). Unfortunately, I’m still having trouble emotionally joining that bandwagon even if rationally it’s not much sillier than most JRPGs I play and love. Most of the time, I’m rolling my eyes at the quests I’m doing.
He has a project to complete to earn screens back among other things. He refuses to do the project, so he doesn’t get screens until he at least does that. Instead he’s just reading all day long. I’m fine with that. It’s his perogative.
I have the oposite problem.
I have not problem people will buy into a god-king leader. This is a world where a few people have their soul linked to a giant animal-god so the source of their power is obvious.
Here in the real world we have less excuses. In our world people have believed the pharaons had god ancestors …without nothing to prove it. Same with caesars, or even some more modern emperors.
My problem is too much realism in this game. Some of the political decisions are pure realpolitik pragmatism, and I get into some ludonarrative dissonance where I don’t know how much realpolitik would fly in this world.
I have yet to see the use of government to oppress different ideas, spies, sabotage… nasty things a government need to deal with.
But is a cute game, where the main protagonist declare that he want to end all wars. And everyone in the room look at him funny.
I get what you’re saying. I just haven’t taken it that way. Maybe you’re further in than I but so far everyone that has joined has given some kind of reason. (admittedly some are wacky)
Some were displace from Ding Dong Dell, 1 was an apprentice who wanted to get out from under her master and see if she could make it in her own shop, another was a retired general who wanted decent food which Evermore could provide, and yet another was disillusioned by the cheating in her home country, and wanted to follow a truthful leader. Etc, Etc)
In any case, I hope the rest of the game is good enough to get you past this. I’m rather enjoying it. Just remember that your playing part JRPG and part Fairy Tale where the goal is for every one to live happily ever after.
Wait, what? That sounds intriguing… I’m gong to have to play more to see what you’re talking about.
This is a Japanese game, and Japanese fairy tales tend to be somewhat realistic and grim, while still being hopeful, but there is this feeling of unease that permeates the whole thing. Call it an “emotional uncanny valley”, if you wish. It’s also a very Ghibli thing that Level-5 emulated to a point in this game. Remember Spirited Away? Many of the “grim” parts in the story in that movie are directly relatable to real-world issues, and the movie didn’t protect the viewer or the protagonist from the impact of those issues. At the same time, there was this hope, this “purity” to the main character that kept her (and you) going in spite of adversities.
In some ways, Ni No Kuni 2 has that same kind of feeling. There’s this slight “dissonance” between the purity and hopefulness of Evan and the more pratical aspects of living (and being a king) in a world where happily ever after is as much of an effort as it would be in the world we know.
Heh, well no judgment here. I think you said this was his first game, so I imagined him quite young, but he’s picking some serious down time for sure. Good luck!
If you don’t mind spoilers:
They decide to create a pact of non-agression and have all nations sign it. They are are doing this not only because the objetive of creating a “Pax Romana”, but because they want a goal for their own people, the reason being their people come from different countries and withouth a unifying goal they will be lost to infighting.
Is there anything that you could easily compare the combat to? Like a more cartoony Diablo 3 or something? I’m not a huge fan of JRPG combat but the real time aspect + the city building is really intriguing. Plus I think my daughters would love the graphics and characters.
Combat starts, you push up on your left thumb stick to run forward at the enemies and use light and heavy attacks, rolling and blocking as needed, a bit like a fast paced (and no penalty/stamina) Dark Souls. Honestly you should probably watch a video to get a sense of it, but in the first few hours of the game combat is fun, easy, and fast. You attack a group of enemies, soak up the loots, and keep going - boom, boom, boom. Fast.
So far it’s been pretty simple (in a good way for a JRPG, I think). There are some fun systems already 2 hours in, like skills and getting your weapons “zing” up to 100% so said skills are the most effective possible (so some light/heavy attacks and then Fireball!) and some button presses to toggle between weapons on the fly (to build up zing again on a weapon that’s closer to 100%, or maybe because it’s a Fiery Broadsword and the enemy you are fighting is weak to fire) but it’s been super light on “complexity” thus far. I like finding new equipment and the like.
I’m guessing I have more systems and things to unlock (for example, there has already been reference to like… adrenaline or something?) and of course the little critters on the combat help you out in neat ways from time to time.
I haven’t watched this yet myself but it may help you a bit more than I can (especially me being so early in the game yet).
I’ll definitely check it out, thanks! Wish I had saved my 20% coupon for this but I used it before I knew about it.
After 12 hours I am done. My last hour spent in the game I did all of my combat by engaging, then running around but pushing no buttons. Won every battle by my NPCs killing everything off, even stuff 5-6 levels higher then me. Several of the “side quests” are not in fact side quests, as you have to complete them in order to continue the game. The Kingdom building really has no decisions to be made. citizens are dolled out in sequence, as are the upgrades. I’m so bummed. For those of you having fun with this I am jealous! I really wanted to. Ah well…
Closest comparison I can think of is actually Dragon Quest Heroes, with a bit of Tales of Berseria thrown in. If you’ve played any of those you’ll have an idea of what to expect, I think.
I don’t see how that is possible, as I faced a Manticore and it gladly slaughtered my companions halfway into the battle, and I won by the skin of my teeth (with the help of healing herbs and whatnot).