Quick Look: Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

Ha! Drippy sounds like Rhod Gilbert... Seen him live, awesome comedian.

Tidy, mun.

Would love to see a review, but if Brad provides comments on his playthrough in a podcast or something, that would be fine too. Still, it would behoove Giant Bomb to review some of the grander games once in a while.

Damnit, I should have never sold my PS3. I didn't think this would ever come to the states, so looks like I miss out on it... Oh well, I'll always have Whisper of the Heart & Pom Poko; two of my most favorite Ghibli films.

btw, out of all the Ghibli films, I think this game's 2d art style is most like Porco Rosso & Ponyo. When it gets into 3d, it reminds me more of The Cat Returns. Anyone agree?

btw part 2, it's amazing how that damn cat is in so many ghibli films & now a game. As far as I know, it's a stray cat that chills around ghibli headquarters and does as he wants. Love it!

Looks great! Makes me a little sad, I really miss the old school good JRPGs. I miss those days.

@cooljammer00 said:

The mom says she made Drippy. He says he was transformed and then booted into this dimension.

So dead Mom is a liar?

What a terrible mooooom.

Ni No Clooney

(sorry)

If that Drippy guy is the best character this game has to offer, I'm not sure I willing to spend 25+ with that combat. Plus I find the "child-like-wonder" thing immensely annoying.

I think I'll just go watch My Neighbor Totoro again.

I love Vinny, even if he is kidding.

I'd be playing this in Japanese if possible. Don't have a PS-anything though.

Edit: Ugh... some of the in-game has no voice? I don't like dikke-dikke-dikke-dikke-dikke-dikke dialog.

@Cykke said:

I don't see what all the fuss about the art is about. To me it doesn't look that good, honestly.

And the mom dying just really turned me off for this game. Ugh, I don't know why I care so much about that but it just seems like a really cheesy way to make this a 'dramatic' story.

The gameplay doesn't really interest me. Honestly, I'm underwhelmed by this. Oh well, pass.

AAAAgreed. The animation looks so novice and "kiddie". This seems like a game for kids and man-children. Never understood the fascination with Ghiblis' art getting so much praise, it has always looked so fucking lazy and non-descript.

I might have to dust off my rarely used PS3 for this game! I love the look of it and yay for Welsh accents!

@ejiehi: Dear PC gamer buy Sony consoles.

@Curufinwe said:

If Brad spends 50 hours finishing this game, when is he going to have time to play Persona 4 Golden? It would be nice to hear regular discussions about his progress in that game on the Bombcast.

I doubt he or Ryan played much if any of the game. Also, considering Ryan's VITA pretty much died of loneliness...

@Vinchenzo said:

@Smokey_Earhole said:

@CaLe said:

Looks nice, but it's a deception. There is a typical JRPG underneath all that pretty.

This fucking this. Typical JRPG underneath indeed, with all the ridiculous nonsense that entails.

As someone who played and beat the Japanese version last month, I can confirm this. It's bland as all shit and people are being tricked by the art style into thinking it's something good. It's okay, at best.

Did they, at any point, say this wasn't going to be a JRPG? It's deception because the marketing for the game focused on its strongest asset (the visuals)? Do you think before you write?

Mooooom! <>

Puss in Bouts and Puss in Boats?

:)

@GnaTSoL said:

Why can't you guys review this game when other sites will do it? You claim to be more busy than all other gaming sites?

Yes they do claim? I can't think of another website that produces this much content on a weekly basis.

This game is amazing guys seriously PLAY THIS GAME!!!!!!!!

@Turambar said:

@Vinchenzo said:

@Smokey_Earhole said:

@CaLe said:

Looks nice, but it's a deception. There is a typical JRPG underneath all that pretty.

This fucking this. Typical JRPG underneath indeed, with all the ridiculous nonsense that entails.

As someone who played and beat the Japanese version last month, I can confirm this. It's bland as all shit and people are being tricked by the art style into thinking it's something good. It's okay, at best.

Did they, at any point, say this wasn't going to be a JRPG? It's deception because the marketing for the game focused on its strongest asset (the visuals)? Do you think before you write?

What else would this game be? A 3D platformer? Stupid comments.

On the fence but leaning toward buying this.

@Flacracker said:

@patrickklepek said:

@doe3879 said:

negative 7 points for not knowing that "pdf" was an actual book.

Seriously tho, I can never understand the guys using the "we have no time to cover these long games" arguments. Why couldn't you guys spend the time on them if your audience are into them. Perhaps not all of you should be playing 60+ hours game at the same time (heck that be a nice change of pace) but just do it whenever there's a extremely long game that you want to play. Don't need to rush through them either, heck just make weekly contend on the process or something.

Because it would seriously detract from our ability to regular every other game. We play games 99% in our spare time, unless we're reviewing them. Believe me, I wish there was another way.

"Man this week is dry." "There is not a whole lot coming out this week." "Not a lot of games out this week." - Almost every ILM ever.

"Man they're talking about Skyrim STILL?!" "Shut up about Fallout already! Play some new games!" "Everyone is done with Halo, Vinny. Everyone's done with Assassin's Creed, Brad. Move on!"- Almost every Bombcast when they do what this person is requesting.

Between the evil talking parrot and the Pokemon with the lantern nosering, I can see this is not something I'd be able to play

55 minutes? You call that a "quick" look?

Very impressed that they actually went out of their way to localize and use accents. 100% convinced as soon as that lamp guy said "tidy". Nailed the welsh accent.

Probably the only JRPG I've ever been interested in playing, port to PC (yeah right lol) plz

@insouciant said:

55 minutes? You call that a "quick" look?

There's a lot to cover. Holy crap, this is a tried-and-true 60+ hour RPG.

Has anyone here read The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub? Pretty much the same thing.

Love the Studio Ghibli character design, but the very, very by-the-numbers JRPG story is a bit off-putting. I wish they were more involved with the rest of the game as well.

The Edge quote someone posted is pretty reassuring, though.

This game has better Pokemon than the newer Pokemon.

@Wrighteous86 said:

@Flacracker said:

@patrickklepek said:

@doe3879 said:

negative 7 points for not knowing that "pdf" was an actual book.

Seriously tho, I can never understand the guys using the "we have no time to cover these long games" arguments. Why couldn't you guys spend the time on them if your audience are into them. Perhaps not all of you should be playing 60+ hours game at the same time (heck that be a nice change of pace) but just do it whenever there's a extremely long game that you want to play. Don't need to rush through them either, heck just make weekly contend on the process or something.

Because it would seriously detract from our ability to regular every other game. We play games 99% in our spare time, unless we're reviewing them. Believe me, I wish there was another way.

"Man this week is dry." "There is not a whole lot coming out this week." "Not a lot of games out this week." - Almost every ILM ever.

"Man they're talking about Skyrim STILL?!" "Shut up about Fallout already! Play some new games!" "Everyone is done with Halo, Vinny. Everyone's done with Assassin's Creed, Brad. Move on!"- Almost every Bombcast when they do what this person is requesting.

Dude, you just made up a bunch of crap. I've never seen a single comment that complained about one of them still playing a game that had been released awhile ago. In fact, the weekly Fallout 3 discussion was one of the things I most looked forward to back when that was occuring.

What are the chances this will come to other consoles?

@golguin said:

What are the chances this will come to other consoles?

I'm fairly certain Level 5 has never put anything on the Xbox and has only bothered with handheld Nintendo games. Don't hold your breath.

I tried to buy this at Target tonight but they didn't have it. Looks incredible.

I'm right there with the guys when it comes to JRPGs. I absolutely loved that genre in the SNES and PS1 days, but FFX was probably the last one I truly disappeared into. I'm eager to dive into this one, it looks like they really hit it out of the park.

I'm torn when it comes to the talk about not having time for a game like this. On the one hand I get it, they have a small staff and they generally need all hands on deck. On the other hand, I doubt you will hear the crew saying they don't have time to review something like Elder Scrolls VI, and that's probably in the holidays among a bunch of other big titles.

I've got no horse in the race... I've all but abandoned the genre and I hadn't even heard of the game until this Quick Look went up. I just hope the team continues to cover what they're interested in and not worry too much about touching every game that comes out.

Man, I hope it's played straight.

In different hands, this could very well be a story of a kid retreating into a fantasy world inside his own head, out of grief.

@2kings said:

@Cykke said:

I don't see what all the fuss about the art is about. To me it doesn't look that good, honestly.

And the mom dying just really turned me off for this game. Ugh, I don't know why I care so much about that but it just seems like a really cheesy way to make this a 'dramatic' story.

The gameplay doesn't really interest me. Honestly, I'm underwhelmed by this. Oh well, pass.

AAAAgreed. The animation looks so novice and "kiddie". This seems like a game for kids and man-children. Never understood the fascination with Ghiblis' art getting so much praise, it has always looked so fucking lazy and non-descript.

I love Ghiblis art. It has real style. As soon as you set eyes on it, you no exactly who did it. In a world full of over designed characters, characters who aren't covered in a hundred belts, pockets, pouches, and other miscellaneous metals are a breath of fresh air. If anything, it is complex in its simplicity. How this studio pulls much character and life out of so little lines, baffles me. But most of all, I love their use of color. Most game have this washed out and dim look. When a game remembers there are more colors than brown, blue, and black, it automatically goes up a few points for me.

I will say the story is kind of whatever, but goddamn is this game was pretty.

I want to play this game, I really do. I just don't have the time. I still haven't played Hitman, Dishonored, XCOM, etc. All the big stuff from the tail end of last year.

Maybe in the summer. *Sigh.*

@dr_mantas said:

Man, I hope it's played straight.

In different hands, this could very well be a story of a kid retreating into a fantasy world inside his own head, out of grief.

See, now I just wanna play American McGee's Ni no Kuni.

I am with Brad on the See-cil.

@Axersia said:

@dr_mantas said:

Man, I hope it's played straight.

In different hands, this could very well be a story of a kid retreating into a fantasy world inside his own head, out of grief.

See, now I just wanna play American McGee's Ni no Kuni.

YES!!!!

Brad play Persona 4, there is no harry potter wizard bullpoo in that.

This is an amazing game.

@FierceDeity said:

@Wrighteous86 said:

@Flacracker said:

@patrickklepek said:

@doe3879 said:

negative 7 points for not knowing that "pdf" was an actual book.

Seriously tho, I can never understand the guys using the "we have no time to cover these long games" arguments. Why couldn't you guys spend the time on them if your audience are into them. Perhaps not all of you should be playing 60+ hours game at the same time (heck that be a nice change of pace) but just do it whenever there's a extremely long game that you want to play. Don't need to rush through them either, heck just make weekly contend on the process or something.

Because it would seriously detract from our ability to regular every other game. We play games 99% in our spare time, unless we're reviewing them. Believe me, I wish there was another way.

"Man this week is dry." "There is not a whole lot coming out this week." "Not a lot of games out this week." - Almost every ILM ever.

"Man they're talking about Skyrim STILL?!" "Shut up about Fallout already! Play some new games!" "Everyone is done with Halo, Vinny. Everyone's done with Assassin's Creed, Brad. Move on!"- Almost every Bombcast when they do what this person is requesting.

Dude, you just made up a bunch of crap. I've never seen a single comment that complained about one of them still playing a game that had been released awhile ago. In fact, the weekly Fallout 3 discussion was one of the things I most looked forward to back when that was occuring.

Oh, I guess you're right. I'm full of crap that the Giant Bomb audience complains no matter what they do. They definitely don't complain that they are giving too much attention to long and involved games, or games they missed in the past. You liked it, so everyone else must've. Oh wait, a 2 second Google search found this thread.

Oh, and here's a quote from the Bombcast waiting room:

@c0l0nelp0c0rn1:

Dude, they're done talking about Skyrim (I hope)! A new year, therefor new (future) releases.

I don't feel like trawling through 2 year old threads anymore. My point wasn't that it was the vocal majority, but that you could find someone that will complain about anything. And there were people complaining that they gave too much attention to certain games, or took their time, or went back to games they missed. Someone will complain about anything.

Yep, this looks like my JRPG for this year. Dove into Xenoblade Chronicles last year in the same way. Loved getting back into these type of games when they're well-made, modern, and have good characters.

I'm in somewhat the same boat as the crew, as I don't have nearly the time to play games that I used to between work and life. But there's normally a month or two gap that I can fit a game like this in. It makes for a good balance with the 10-20 hour games played over a couple weeks. I imagine once my backlog from the holidays clears up and the early big releases are finished I'll start this game.

I bought this product NEW. 59.99 plus taxation! Rarely have I ventured out into new current gen titles with my wallet, but I just couldn't help myself. It's right up there with my PAL Xenoblade Collector's Edition! Thanks again, NOA!

There should definitely be more Welsh characters in video games. Drippy has an excellent Welsh accent.

My only complaint for this game is I have absolutely no time to put into it. There are a lot of games coming out and still at least three I haven't beat from last year. Maybe I'll wait till it drops in price and/or comes to another console. Would love a Vita version or Wii U

as a Welsh-blooded American, I'm reeeaally angry I have a North-American accent.

You can make the argument that Brad's opinion of anything is tarnished by his hyperbole, as well as his knack for constantly dying in videogames, but c'mon. It’s different when it’s a woman, this is over the line, and logic should have known better.

Man I need a PS3.

I agree with Brad. that UI is fucking brilliant and beautiful. this whole game is gorgeous... and that's coming from somebody who can't stand JRPGs, specifically cutesy ones.

Oh I am so digging that Welsh accent. Damn it, I didn't want an excuse to finish Torchwood.