Last Thursday, Bandai Namco had a represent in Oslo, and we got invited to try out the upcoming Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom. A sequel to one of the best games ever made? I couldn’t wait! So after arriving a bit early, I finally met the represent, Tove, and got my hands on chapter three and four of Ni no Kuni II!
Re-enter the animated world of Ni no Kuni! Explore the beautifully crafted world and experience the gripping story in an all-new RPG adventure. Level-5 reunited with Yoshiyuki Momose on character design and music created by Joe Hisaishi in the production of the next Ni no Kuni tale.
- All Star Production – Level-5’s mastery of the RPG genre is combined with music created by the renowned Joe Hisaishi and character designs by animation artist Yoshiyuki Momose.
- Captivating Story – A charming and tragic tale unfolds as Evan, a boy prince, learns how to become a leader and build a kingdom
- Playing Mastery – New and traditional RPG elements expertly crafted and designed featuring dozens of locations to explore, hundreds of creatures to battle and a wealth of quests and secrets to uncover throughout the sweeping journey
- Another World – Stunning visuals recreate the world of Ni no Kuni and immerses the players into an incredible vibrant, animated land filles with a new cast of delightful characters to meet. – Bandai Namco Factsheet
After meeting Tove for the first time and getting some pastry and something to drink I sat down and began my journey into Ni no Kuni II. Immediately I was impressed by how good this game looks, although not surprising if you’ve played any of the former games. I must also say I was impressed by how soon I felt like I knew all of the main characters, even without any proper introduction since I jumped into the game at chapter three. That’s truly great character design.
I’d also like to take a moment to talk about the city of Goldpaw, where most of the story took place for my part. The southern Asian feel is ever present, and when Tove told me about how the designers had taken Taiwan as an inspiration, I started noticing all the small details that fitted into the Taiwanese style. Once again, I must say I am impressed by the attention to details in this game.
Another thing the game really nails is the gameplay, after only one fail moment, I got the hang of the controls and the feel of each character and really started enjoying the fights. There’s also a cool feature when meeting enemies in the world, where, if you try to run away and caught, the enemies gets a surprise attack, kind of like Earthbound. A new feature in this game is Higgledies, small fluorescent beings that follow Evan around in fights, and provide area-of-effect buffs or special attacks that devastate most enemies. I have to admit I rarely needed their help, apart from a few boss fights, but they too, are a good addition to the game.
I also got to try out the new “Kingdom Mode” where I got to start building the new kingdom of Evermore. Among the buildings I could choose, were a bakery to get more potions/food and their buffs, which came in handy when out and about in the world. As you build more stores in your kingdom, you get more income and can thereby allow your kingdom to expand even more. Although I didn’t have a lot of time with the mode, I can surely imagine that it will be a good supplement to the rest of the game once you get the hang of it.
Finally there’s “Skirmish mode”, with RTS-like combat scenarios, unfortunately I never had the time to try this mode, as I was busy walking around, just looking at all the nice textures. From what I heard about it though, it sounds cool, even for me who doesn’t like RTS games at all.
There’s actually very little I would change with the game. I would like to have some more voice acting, and make some of the scenes a bit longer, and I would have preferred it fast travel was a bit easier to access. Other than that though, I fail to see anything that should have been done different. If the rest of the game keep up to what I played, I can definitely see this as a contender for my game of the year 2018, even though we’re not even in March yet.
Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom is arriving for the PS4 and PC on 23rd of March. And honestly I can’t wait to play the full version.
40+ screenshots
