Ni No Kuni - The jrpg with Studio Ghibli art

Yep, that's the main reason I'm trying to snag this on disk... I'm gonna need the space for things I can only get over PSN.

On that note, I've been unable to find this sucker anywhere. I decided to make a deal with the devil go to Best Buy today to see if they had it... not only did they not have it, they're back ordered with a 2 to 4 week waiting period. I ordered a copy anyway.

On the bright side, I also managed to order a copy of Retro Game Master: The Game Center CX Collection, which should be arriving within the week.

Yeah the only reason I did it was because I had some PSN credit and they haven't run any good sales lately. It did help me find out that my download copy of Street Fighter IV AE was taking up 18 flippin gigs.

I'm loving the game but man could the enemies be less fearsome? I feel like I'm beating up a Jim Henson studio.

Sure, you fucking game, go ahead and hang after the (pretty easy but time consuming and DULL) stealth mission and subsequent not-so-easy boss battle with no save point in between them. Go the fuck ahead. Why would a flagship game need common sense usability like a fucking save point in between two long sequences? It's almost like they did it on purpose-- there's been nearby save points, if not ones right before the trigger, on every fight before the one that happens to come after a screw-up-and-start-the-whole-thing-over stealth mission. And then you just barely beat the boss and the game fucking hangs on a loading screen like some cheap piece of shit.

I am fucking disappointed.

From to

Why is everyone laughing while Tommy Lee Jones looks to be plotting murder?

Why is there a cursor in the gif? THE WORLD MAY NEVER KNOW

He's not plotting murder. He just wants some coffee (in a can).

I must have been standing too close to the manhole or something because when I finally went back there after touring every single place I had already been and capturing everything I hadn't gotten yet, I was able to save right before the boss fight when I hadn't been able to before. And with all those levels gained from touring the countryside, the boss went down easy. And it didn't hang. And I got to make some commentary directed at the LP forum:

Crybaby Bunting's favorite song

Finally got the game, and am playing through the intro bits. Also, I've just found out that Shadaar's title is "The Dark Djinn". As someone who's played Dark Cloud (where the final boss was the Dark Genie), I'm suddenly really worried how difficult he'll be when I get to face him. Level 5 does love their references, after all....

Also, more games need the option to turn off the 'Go Here' markers on the minimap.

Special edition sold: $325.

This seems as good a place as any for a first post (aaaaah!):

Eight hours in (and taking my sweet time):

+ Everything about this game oozes cuteness. The way the mite stamps his foot impatiently while waiting for you to feed it a treat. The adorable look of adorable surprise on adorable enemies as you adorably pop them a good one. The way roaming enemies on the world map run toward (or away!) from you. Mr. Drippy's ridiculous dancing in the background during battles. We are in candy toothache territory here, and you know what, it's a big breath of fresh air.
+ After the first couple of introductory dungeons, the standard battle music significantly increases its tempo and the result is, to my ears, some of the finer battle music out there; I do dig me some syncopation and counterpoint and wildly trilling horns etc. I'm aware that others disagree. But no one can deny that overall Joe Hisaishi and the Tokyo Philharmonic did a great job on a beauty of a soundtrack.
+ Localization and voice acting is on-point. Cutscenes are a joy to watch.
+ I have lost an hour of my life poring through the amazing Wizard's Compendium and wondering what those empty pages will be filled with.
+ Mommies!

- I'm OK with bounties and fetch quests, really, but is it necessary to make me run aaaaaaaall the way back across the map to a bulletin board or the fetch quest originator to show that I've collected 14 cupid arrows, two bunches of posies and three baatender tusks so that I can read some empty platitudes of thanks and receive a reward? Just give me my rewards instantly upon completion! Xenoblade Chronicles really showed the way forward with all of this side-quest running around and it's hard to go back.
- So far, standard battles are falling victim to the "press attack to win" syndrome and it seems advancement in the game will be not a question of "how do you solve these interesting battle puzzles" but more "how much time are you going to put in," which is a shame. Thank god everything's so pretty.
- Oliver's little battle catchphrases (neato!) are already getting rather old.
- I am constantly mis-clicking in battles. I want the battle scrollwheel to scroll in the opposite direction of what I keep pressing. Let's cast a spell-- well, I guess I'll be timidly defending instead as this huge monster flattens me. OK, click to cancel and DAMMIT RUN AWAY FROM THE PAIN MR. DRIPPY THROW ME SOME HEALING OH GOD click click.

My previous experiences with Level 5 JRPGs are Dragon Quest VIII (engrossing) and Rogue Galaxy (dropped from boredom after 15 hours of uneven and uninteresting gameplay) and I can definitely see influences of both games in their current offering; overall I'm pretty pleased with Ni no Kuni thus far. I can generally overlook pedestrian gameplay for interesting characters and a well-told story or at least general beauty, and this game has that in spades so far.

When can I get pokemans? I've played for like 6 hours and I still can't catch my pokemans.

Literally seconds after that post, I got to the catch'em all section. Woooo!

This game is pretty grindy. And the curve for it is pretty flat, which sucks.

I never went out of my way to grind. I did a lot of the errands though, so I suppose all the combat on the way to those didn't hurt. Was only level 51 when the credits rolled. I'm aware there's more to do after that, but man...41 hours.

Loved it though, loooooved it.

Edit: Also, I wish I'd have known about a year ago what I know now, I'd be gunning for a special edition with the Wizard's Companion in it.

I FINALLY GOT THIS THROUGH GAMEFLY.

...FUCKING HELL, THIS GAME.
- I'll start off by saying that I greatly appreciate the ability to switch between "Easy" and "Normal" at will because even when I haven't run from ANY battles (it was only recently that I ran from my first one), I have had serious difficulty transferring from the...the fuck are those woods called? The ones with the boars and the BIG MINOTAURRRR? That bunch of trees to the desert is a serious difficulty boost. Maybe it's because everyone is level 12 in my party, but that doesn't make sense, since the party member you get in DESERTWORLD is level 10.
- I've been playing with the original Japanese voice acting and golly gee is it different. Not "bad" different, just really different from the English version. It feels like Oliver is significantly more calm/less WORDY in Japanese. And I lovelovelovelovelove Drippy's voice. I don't know how in the world they translated it into "REALLY FUNKY ACCENT" when deciding who the English VA would be; if anything, they got the blunt and kinda rude part down, but where did that accent come from????? There are honestly times where I can't understand what he's saying. also unnecessary name changes really get on my nerves but it's okay i'll just ignore the subtitles
- It's already been mentioned, but the running around gets stupid-tedious when it comes to questing. Usually by the second major town in an RPG, you'll have some sort of way to travel through the world faster. Maybe not the fastest way possible, but at least faster. I see those lids on the floor, game, and you are being a dick by not letting me use them. At least HIDE them from me. D< I have never been so disappointed in the use of manholes in a video game.
- Going to be honest in stating that I don't really like the overworld/battle music very much. Maybe it's from all of the battles, but I'm getting serious Dragon Quest VIII vibes, except I liked that music a bit more.
- The broken heart system. GOOD CONCEPT. WONDERFUL CONCEPT. Execution was very much lacking and poorly implemented. Especially the "you can only carry one of each at a time" rule. My frustration knows no bounds.
- The battle system itself could have used more work. The explanations are good, but in a high-pace battle with three enemies and just TWO party members, things get really hectic really fast and I start pushing the wrong buttons and everything just falls apart. :< That circle menu has cost me lots of money, man.
- PUNS. NAMES OF THINGS AND PUNS. LEVEL 5, STOP IT.

+ FOOD. FOOD AND COOKING AND FOOD FOOD FOOD. <3
+ Despite my complaints nitpicking about the translations/localization earlier, it's still technically well done. I absolutely adore reading descriptions of things in the Compendium and the translations of the stories and various entries are top notch. Though some personalities may be different, everyone is still a good character.
+ THE ABILITY TO NAMEEEE MY POKEMON. Panko (mite), Lemon (monkey), and Ferdinand (bbyleef) are my besties.
+ Ghibli's style was a good choice for this game. It looks amazing in cutscenes and it looks pretty good on in-game models. I like how it came out. C:
+ FORGETTING BATTLE MUSIC AND THE MAP THEME, I like the music in this game, too.
+ PUNS. NAMES OF THINGS AND PUNS. LEVEL 5, NEVER STOP SHINING, YOU BRILLIANT STAR.