Ni No Kuni II

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Ni No Kuni II

Ni No Kuni II is an ambitious JRPG to say the least. Blending element of the RTS and city building genres seamlessly in to a new modern take on the timeless JRPG formula. All the while keeping things simple enough for anyone to easily grasp and enjoy.

The birth of a kingdom

Ni No kKuni II starts with Roland the president of a USA-esque country, being transported to a fantasy style world after watching said country get blown to pieces by a nuke. Roland finds himself in the bedroom of Evan, the young king of a city named Ding Dong Dell. Soon thereafter, the two discover a plot to assassinate young King Evan and so proceed to escape from the city which he once ruled. Evan and Roland then commence a long journey of reflection and what it really means to be a ruler. Eventually Evan decided to unite the world and to create a place where everyone can be happy. To achieve this he establishes a new kingdom named Evermore, as well planning an alliance of all the world’s nations known as the Declaration of Interdependence. The story is filled with your classic JRPG characters, most of which were not all that interesting, and the plot while at time has some twists was nothing extremely fresh or exciting.

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A great deal of the game revolves around your kingdom of Evermore.  The game tasks you with everything from managing the citizens to deciding what to build and upgrade in your kingdom. Evermore acts as a hub for you to do many things like customize your weapons and armor, as well as build new ones, you can buy general items, or even augment how much experience your party gets, the list of things only grows as your kingdom expands. The satisfaction of watching your kingdom grow from a small village in to a thriving city is one of the many things that kept me coming back for more.

Many of the games side quest involve recruiting new citizens to Evermore. There was nothing extraordinary about them, most of which consist of the usual, collect item A or kill bad guy B. However the idea of gaining another follower to help grow my Evermore’s armory or stores, had the collector in me fanatically devouring all the quests the game could offer me.

One of the other major facets of managing Evermore is it’s defenses. This is done with a neat RTS system. You control Evan and up to four bands of soldiers each with their own weapon type. The combat follows a simple rock, paper scissors format that doesn’t really offer much depth. It servers mostly as a nice occasional break from the normal combat in the game, but in the end feel kind of tacked on and half baked.

Out with the old and in with the new

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In many way Ni No Kuni II fixes the major issues, that plagued the first game (a great game in it’s own right). Gone are the tedious and slow Pokemon style battles from the first game, but instead there is a focus on fluid fast paced combat, more akin to that of the tales of series. You have your normal myriad of moves like slow and fast attacks, ranged attacks, magic attacks, and the ability to block and dodge. However the introduction of the zing gauge adds a new twist to combat. Characters can equip 3 different melee weapons that you can swap between mid combat. As they land melee attacks, that weapons zing gauge fills until it reaches 100%, which empowers all of their attacks. You can then choose to expend all of your zing gauge to unleash a beefed of version of your magic attacks, that when used properly can devastate enemies. It ends up blending really well creating a very fun experience that rewards you for playing smart using your abilities properly.

The combat from the first Ni No Kuni while mostly gone, still lives on to an extent in the the form of Higgeldies. Higgeldies are quirky little elemental creatures that help Evan and his crew in combat. They can provide a large array of practical , and silly skills, ranging from a healing field to firing cannons at your foes. While handy in a pinch, at no point would I have called them necessary for any of the fights. In fact, I didn’t really bother to change or manage my higgeldies until 3/4 of the way through the game. Even then it was solely out of curiosity and not necessity.

 

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Summery

Ni No Kuni II offers a little bit of everything for it’s audience, and somehow manages to pull it off without taking away from the gameplay. Everything that I did feels like it has a purpose, and at no point was I dreading doing anything the game had to offer. The story while I thought was perhaps a bit uninspired was still fairly solid. Overall Ni No Kuni II is an excellent game that offers a breath of fresh air in to the JRPG genre without alienating it’s fans or over complicating thing.

Good

  • Fun and fresh combat
  • Loads of things to keep you busy
  • Very nice art style and sound track

Bad

  • Run of the mill JRPG story
  • Some aspects felt a little under developed

8/10

Monster Hunter World

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monster-hunter_-world_20180128102539Monster Hunter is a franchise that never really caught my attention when I was younger. I tried a few of the earlier installments, but for me and a lot of the western audience there was just a little too much complexity.

This time around Capcom decided to shake things up a bit though, with the series making it’s long awaited return to consoles after living in the handheld scene for a while.  Furthermore they removed most of the confusing elements that bogged the past titles, while simultaneously proving the game with a much deserved graphics overhaul. All these things combine to make one of the most exciting and rewarding hack and slash games to hit the market in years.

A Whole New World

From the very start of the game, Monster Hunter World envelops you in the game’s sense of adventure and exploration. After the ship you and your fellow hunters are traveling on happens to run in to a mountain sized dragon, you and your new companion are left stranded in a forest of a new mysterious continent dubbed the New World. You fight your way to the main encampment in the new world named Astera, this servers as the main hub for most of the game. From here you are given your choice of weapon and tasked with trimming down the local monster population.

There is a story to Monster Hunter World but it is rather bland and forgettable, but that’s okay. The game more than makes up for this with it’s fun and addictive game play. From the very first mission I found myself hooked on the games simple armor and weapon crafting system. The system used in Monster Hunter World finds you killing big monsters and then harvesting their bodies for crafting materials which can then be combined to upgrade your gear or craft all new set of equipment. It’s just simple enough for most people to quickly grasp it but if you dig deeper there is an unimaginable amount of depth. That is one of the major draws of the game, the whole experience is as simple or as intricate as you want it to be. This can lead to some fun experimenting with different weapons or armor sets to see what fits your play style.

I can’t tell you how many times I told myself that I would just do one more hunt for the last piece of material I needed to complete my new weapon, only to look at the clock and have 3 or 4 hours gone by and I was doing “just one more” to make a new item. Capcom did an outstanding job with the progression system this time around. Every time I got an upgrade to my gear it felt rewarding. This allows you to take on new and challenging monsters and get even more upgrades. It’s this consistent cycle that kept me coming back day after day, challenging myself to get new gear, and take on the biggest and most intimidating monsters.dyppio7wkaygavj

Monstrous Fights

The combat in Monster Hunter World like the crafting seems simple on the surface, but if you really dig deeper there is a really rewarding learning curve to most of the game’s vast array of weapons. You could get by with just mashing attack buttons for most of the game, some of the game’s most satisfying moments are when you perfectly block or dodge roll a huge attack from a monster. The game manages to keep you on your toes the entire time you are fighting any of the monsters, with it’s fast paced action oriented combat. The first time you kill a new monster is very akin to the feeling of beating any of the bosses of a dark souls game, it’s exhilarating and provides you with a real sense of accomplishment.

Another staple of the Monster Hunter series is it’s online co-op, which allows you and up to 3 other people to hunt monsters together. However for all the positive changes made by this entry this is one area that didn’t really change. You are made to connect to other players lobbies but are unable to see or interact with other players until you are in a mission together. The game does offer a voice chat system but in my experience no one really used it, probably because it is hidden in an obscure part of the games clunky menu system. The whole online aspect of the game feels undeveloped, not so much as to detract from the fun of the game, however it did leave me with something to be desired.

Wrap up

Monster Hunter World has an incredible amount of content and replayability. The story isn’t very intriguing, however all that is more than made up for by the gameplay. Every part of the core gameplay feels polished and satisfying. The progression system is easily one of the best around. This is a must play game for anyone that enjoys action based games or the dark souls series, just be warned once you pick it up it will be hard to put it down.

Good:

  • Thrilling fast paced monster hunts
  • Brilliant crafting systems
  • Gorgeous environments

Bad:

  • Clunky outdated UI
  • Weak forgettable story

9/10