Ni No Kuni - The jrpg with Studio Ghibli art

The demo is out on PSN and as expect the graphics/sound are beautiful. The fact you have to physically move around the battlefield during combat to avoid attacks feels like it will keep it from being the same boring old jrpg slog.


Also it has the best overworld theme since FF6

I know what I'm doing tomorrow.

This makes me wish that my PS3 wasn't bricked. Actually, I already wished that, but now I wish it even more.

My god, this demo is awesome so far. I didn't think I could want this game more than I already did... but I was apparently mistaken.

I played the demo and it throws you into a bit of a tough spot with the first scenario facing you off against a big boss. I couldn't beat him and went on to the second tutorial which starts off a little more slowly. It is a beautiful game alright. I like the battle system a lot. Too me it feels like a combination of Chrono Cross (running into enemies to trigger a battle) and Final Fantasy 12 where you're actually running around freely battling the enemies rather than standing still on an invisible line. And the cool bosses make it feel a little like Monster Hunter as well. I am a pretty casual gamer though so those impressions are probably wildly off.

We just played through the whole demo and man, what a really gorgeous game.

For the boss fight did you use the minion or did you play as the boy? It's way easier as the boy since you can heal yourself.

Does the demo include the book? Because that thing is the reason I never get anything at all done when I fire up Ni no Kuni. It reminds me of the enormous, lovingly made manuals you used to get way back when and I've spent way too much time just leafing through it instead of actually playing.

And yes, Joe Hisaishi did the music, so of course it's all goddamn gorgeous.

No, it doesn't let you use the book. You can get the talking rock who tells you about all the game systems. I know nothing about the book but I'm automatically mistrustful about the ability of in-game books to be more than a wall of non-game presented in an inferior and ridiculously static format. The talking rock interface certainly didn't do anything to make me feel better about that.

But yes, this is a great looking game. The battle system I'm a bit concerned about because it seems like it's just fiddling instead of a system with real tactics. Maybe there's something in the way you pick and manipulate your team that has some meat.

My kids absolutely loved this, especially my nine year-old daughter, and wanted it for Christmas. From what I can see it doesn't release until January 25th. What would you guys recommend that I get her instead, to kinda tide her over? (I know nothing of PS3 or Jrpgs beyond the Souls games.)

It's entirely different from the rock stuff which is really just a basic menu to review tutorials. The book gives you an overview of chapters and pages that you zoom in and out on so it's actually fairly easy to navigate, though my favourite thing is just to jump in somewhere and leaf through the pages. Sure, it's probably not quite as functional as a well-designed in-game wiki system, but it also includes a lot of fluff and backstory and I'm willing to give it a break for trying something unique.

I really can't be arsed to do the whole super sekrit decoder ring alphabet cypher stuff, though. I guess that's what the internet's for.

I played the first part of the demo, killed the thing, got the talking rock, killed some other things on the way to the place it told me to go, got there, gave the guy some enthusiasm, and then the demo said it was over.

Is it timed, or was that it for the first side?

Demo is timed. Thirty minutes, I believe.

Decided to preorder; did not play the demo and do not intend to.

Hmm, I could give you a sizable list of PS2 games that could work (Dark Chronicle [Dark Cloud 2 in the US] would probably be on top), but I don't think I've played a single PS3 JRPG. Not sure if it's me or if there really is a dearth of good ones.

I'm not even sure that calling Ni No Kuni a JRPG is correct, to be honest. But if there's something similar that you or anyone knows about, please throw some of them out there, or pm me so we don't derail the thread.

It's a rpg that was developed in Japan...

Played the demo. Pretty neat, although the battle system was not all that intuitive -- I didn't realize for a while that I could run around, which it turns out is important, and I didn't understand the things that fight for you for a while. Probably gonna pick this up. January 22nd seems to be the release date.

Like Canuck, I found the first scenario a bit steep as an introduction. Presumably the full game will introduce you to the mechanics a bit more smoothly.

You could try Eternal Sonata. It's a few years old now, but it's available on both PS3 and Xbox 360 (though I gather you only have the former). It's got bright, colorful graphics along the lines of Ni No Kuni, and while it's rated T, I don't think there's anything that would be too problematic in terms of content (though it's been a few years since I've played it, so I could be forgetting something, and I'm certainly not the world's best judge of what is or is not appropriate for a 9 year old girl). It's also got a musical theme if that sounds like something she might enjoy. It does include death as a major theme (the story of the game is framed around a dying Frederic Chopin), but it's not gloomy or depressing.

Beyond that, there's Tales of Vesperia, though that's only available for Xbox 360 in the US, and Tales of Graces F for the PS3 (the F just indicates that it's the upgraded PS3 version - it originally came out for Wii in Japan). Of the two I've only played Vesperia, which is more mature thematically than Eternal Sonata, but it still does has colorful graphics and is a relatively lighthearted adventure story-wise, though it hews closer to traditional JRPG tropes than Eternal Sonata. As far as Tales of Graces (which again is your only Tales option on the PS3), I'm less sure, but my impression is that it doesn't stray to far from the Tales template, and shouldn't be radically inappropriate (maybe someone else could chime in here).

As Hanacker alludes to, if you go back to the PS2 era there's a lot more to choose from. The genre as a whole isn't as popular as it was then, and the result is less games making it out of Japan.

And yeah, Ni No Kuni is definitely a JRPG.

Hope that helps!

Tales of Vesperia goes some dark places story-wise. Do not have a nine-year-old play it unless she's ready for that kind of thing.

Tales of Graces is nowhere near as dark, though it's got its moments -- there may not be any blood in the game, but there is still a scene where a character just starts stabbing a fallen soldier while laughing maniacally, and doesn't stop until he's dragged away. That's still kinda dark. Overall, it's much lighter than Vesperia.

See, this is why no one should take advice from me about age-appropriate content. I don't believe anyone gets stabbed in Eternal Sonata, but I could be forgetting something. In any event, I think it's probably the best bet for the age range.

Doesn't it seem sad that the PS3 is about 5 or 6 years old now but in terms of JRPGs its practically a barren wasteland? How things change...

Are you only counting platform exclusives? Because I can think of tons of jrpgs this generation, and lots of "traditional" ones if you want to exclude stuff like Yakuza and Nier.

No I'm just comparing to the PS2 generation I guess. There have been some middling RPGs but the quality doesn't seem to be anywhere where it used to be. Perhaps it's just me.

I think you are vastly overestimating the average level of quality of the PS2 era jrpgs. Hundreds of terrible shitpiles had to die for each Persona.

Yeah I'm with Adree. Lots of JRPGs on PS2, but a whole lot of them are generic, unfun bullshit.

Well yeah, but there were so many that the 5% that were good was still a sizable number. Who said anything about average quality? What are the 5 best JRPGs on PS3?

Eternal Sonata
Final Fantasy 13
Enchanted Arms
Resonance of Fate
Star Ocean

I had to look most of those up on IGN.

Euggh... IGN.

Anywhosit, I agree with putting Resonance of Fate on there, but I'm not so keen on Enchanted Arms. Don't get me wrong, it's a fun game, but it's marred by a rather badly VA'd protag in the English Dub...and everyone else has pretty good VAs, which just makes the lead's bad acting stand out more (though it is dual audio, so you can just switch to the JP dub when - not if - it starts to get grating). The New Game Plus option's broken, too, and it ends up being a '4/5ths Of The Game Completed Plus'. I have no opinion on the others, as I haven't played them. I should, though.

Also, I'm saddened Nier didn't make that list. Admittedly, it's more of an action RPG, but it's so damn good. However, I would most definitely NOT recommend it for a 9-year-old.

That is a terrible list. I would list blank spaces over four of those, and Eternal Sonata really wasn't that great. We really have to start counting Yakuza and the like or this is going to be very grim.

I'll try this out but frankly Lost Odyssey was the last straw that convinced me that there was something seriously bent in terms of how jrpg designers were assessing current platforms and what to work on. You could maximize hair physics and still put together a decent JRPG on the PS2, it seems, but not any longer.

Well that's sort of my point. Is Yakuza even an RPG? I thought it was more of a GTA sandbox type game. Perhaps I was misinformed.

You gain levels which you apply to stats. You equip various pieces of gear that have effects. It's way more of an rpg than GTA, in fact it's nothing like a GTA other than you can roam around freely.

I have never played a Yakuza. Which one should I get if I get one?

Probably 4 since it has multiple characters and the one with the most backstory is introduced late into the game. Yakuza 3 is a great game though and it gives you a good starting point. After playing 3/4 I tried to play 2 and I sort of set it aside, it's pretty dated and the recap feature in 3/4 will pretty much tell you what you need to know.

Get her Okami HD. It's 20 bucks and it's PSN exclusive. Okami was my favourite game in the world back when I was a 14 year old girl, but I know I still would've loved it if I had been 9.

Damn these sweet PS3 exclusives!

...I liked Flower.
It's a nice game that's pretty cheap on the PSN and it's gorgeous in HD. I still play it and am just fascinated by all of the colors and the animation on each blade of grass and...
Flower's a game I'll recommend for anyone, not just a nine-year-old.

Seconding that. I adored Flower.

Also, if she likes that then you should get Journey as well. It's by the same people and it's even better than Flower.

THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU OPEN THE FLOODGATES OF THE LP SUB-FORUM.