oh, wow. that sucks.
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Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch |OT|
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Yeah, that's their only difference in stats. Though the Mite's late game stats are pretty terrible in both forms, so you'll probably want to transition into something else before the difference ends up mattering.
Ah alright then. I thought it'd be more like better gear and stuff..
Oh, I missed out on some dungeon-talk! One thing I love about playing "traditional" RPGs is seeing how well/poorly designed dungeons are. I tend to believe, for the most part, that you can categorize dungeons into 3 tiers. From my experience (not that I've played every RPG, but I have played a lot) there are what I like to call, "Path Dungeons". These are Point A to B areas with little or no thought. An environment to walk through with enemies to fight. That's it. A literal path. Now, this also includes small branches/forks which lead to possible treasure chests. For me, that's not enough to warrant the dungeon as anything more than a path. That's not to say that these RPGs that primarily have path dungeons can't have a few locations here and there with some thought. It's just that more often than not you're exploring a place that isn't very creative.
Examples? Guardia Forest from Chrono Trigger. How about the North Swallow Path from Suikoden II? (The Cave of the Wind from Suikoden II would be an example of a dungeon that DOES have small/good ideas amongst the rest of the path dungeons, which is the majority). I also like to call these types of dungeons, passer-byes. Want to know a modern RPG that is LITERALLY a straight path, play FFXIII. At least games like Chrono Trigger and Suikoden had A LOT of other non-dungeon related things going for them. =/
Ni-No-Kuni, from my experience so far, has not had any passer-byes. Even the Golden Grove had a small idea where you could manipulate the mushrooms to create paths (and a shortcut, wrap-around!). As I've said in my last post, that sort of shit goes a long way with me and it's something I highly appreciate/value in RPGs. While it may not seem like much to you, it's at least something. Same with the sewers beneath Ding Dong Dell. Lighting the torches before they burn out may be "my first RPG" sort-of-a-design, but at least there's SOME thought put into it and it incorporates the usages of your spells in a tool-like manner, Wild ARMs/Zelda style. I dig it.
On the complete polar opposite end of the dungeon-making spectrum there's what I like to call "Wild ARMs Dungeons" (lol, as you can tell I'm a HUGE WA fan!). I mean, pick your series, there's not too many out there that have dungeons on the same level/sophistication as most Wild ARMs games. If you want to go mega old school, then call 'em "Lufia Dungeons" or replace it with Golden Sun, I don't care! Those three series are some of the few "traditional" RPGs that rest their laurels on dungeon design and the usage of tools/spells to manipulate a place. Can any other RPG advocates name other series/games that do it like those games? I'd like to know. =D
As far as the middle, second tier? Not sure what to call it, but Ni-no-Kuni tends to fall in this category, at least from the 12 hours I've played of it so far. Like I said, there's at least SOME thought behind the dungeons in this game. As someone else mentioned, the stuff here is MILES better than Rogue Galaxy too ). That game was the ultimate path game, an endless corridor, to say the least.
Me too. I was really very disappointed when I want back to check.
Guess we can't win 'em all. I just got my dragon... it's pretty nice to explore the world right now.
Question: Where are the Drago's (or Draco's? Or Dino's?) my friend was telling me about? I'm on a mission to capture everything at some point.
Dinoceros? They're on the plateaus all around the Al Mamoon area.
oh, i stopped around there and just encountered sunshine's and some low level enemies. Guess I'll check there again, thanks
slaughterking
Member
One thing I dislike about the game is how you constantly just follow a waypoint to make story progress. These parts are usually pretty poorly paced as they lack any sort of action and you're just walking back and forth to fetch stuff between people. That would be okay if the story and dialog wasn't just a little too infantile. I can appreciate the innocence of it, but it certainly lacks the appeal of a true Ghibli story that can be enjoyed by adults and children alike. Not that I necessarily expected Hino to suddenly do some high class storytelling, but I guess the art style will evoke certain expectations...
Can you get up there at that point of the game or do you have to wait until you get a different mode of transportation?
I consider it a benefit that I always just assume the stories in videogames are awful and don't really pay attention to it too much, really avoids any disappointment in that arena.
Ni No Kuni is just a reaaally simple story, so I just am engaged by the humor of it from time to time.
Ni No Kuni is just a reaaally simple story, so I just am engaged by the humor of it from time to time.
Different mode of transportation.
Most quests can be completed before moving on, outside of some of the heart quests. There are also some quests that are continued in other towns,
including the journal one.
P.S. I had to look up what locktease meant.
I'm always like, "NOT YOU AGAIN!" to that guy. Is that bad? lol The quests aren't lockteases, but there are lockteases in the game.
TheLegendOfMart
Banned
Does anyone have any tips for fighting, I've just completed the rat boss in Ding Dong Well and I found it very difficult.
I am level 7 and I seem to just be taking a pasting, I'm not used to these kinds of battle systems, I am old school and have only ever really used turn based.
I am level 7 and I seem to just be taking a pasting, I'm not used to these kinds of battle systems, I am old school and have only ever really used turn based.
Nope, I say the same thing... Dude needs to tie a damn string to his journal.
Freezasaurus
Member
The Dinoceros shows up more frequently on the Northern cliffs outside of Al-Mamoon, closer to the pass that leads back to Ding Dong Dell. But keep in mind, they don't always spawn, and are sometimes frustratingly uncommon. And they only have a 6% chance to capture. I think I fought like, 40 of them before I caught mine.
One thing you could try, once you're sure you're in the right area, is to save on the cliffs, then quit the game and reload, causing monsters to respawn. Or you could try using Gateway back and forth for a similar outcome. Dinoceros is a big white monster, so you really can't miss them.
Thanks much, exactly what I needed.
Grind, use guard/evade, star creatures against sun creatures, exploit elemental weaknesses and so on.
Does anyone know if the AI can capture creatures or do I have to do it manually? It's a hassle switching, albeit a small one, every time I see those hearts.
Pie and Beans
Look for me on the local news, I'll be the guy arrested for trying to burn down a Nintendo exec's house.
So... other than not having Gyms and Trainer Battles, this is essentially the kind of big budget Pokemon I had hoped Nintendo would make one day (who'd be fools not to fund one for WiiU from Level5 at this point with some MMO trappings)
I'm at a loss as to why this didn't set Japan on fire. Maybe they didn't advertise it quite well enough over there to the IT'S LIKE IF GHIBLI AND POKEMON HAD A CHILD AND SENT IT TO DRAGON QUEST SCHOOL tune.
I'm at a loss as to why this didn't set Japan on fire. Maybe they didn't advertise it quite well enough over there to the IT'S LIKE IF GHIBLI AND POKEMON HAD A CHILD AND SENT IT TO DRAGON QUEST SCHOOL tune.
You have to do it manually.
just found out aboutthere goes my plan of 100%sapdragon
What about it? Should I be worried?
What about it? Should I be worried?
you can only ever get 1 in the game, but it has 2 final forms ><
Well, that's why I was looking for it, but basically the guide says that there should be (actually) 5 pieces of heart in The Fairyground: 1 restraint, 2 ambition, 1 belief, and 1 courage, but they're not there. There are no green dots on my map, my locket doesn't glow, and when I talk to people nothing happens.
I still can't grasp how this game flopped so royally in Japan. Hope it does well enough in NA and EU for them to consider it a success.
Die Squirrel Die
Member
Is there any stat carry over when you metamophosise a familiar? I.E. if I was to take a first form creature, level it up as much as possible, evolve it to form 2, level up that as much as possible, then evolve it to form 3, would that be stronger than just straight up catching a form 3?
Freezasaurus
Member
Did it really!? How does a JRPG flop in Japan!? It seems to have done really well in NA. To the point where it even surprised Namco.
familiars you level from lv1 tier1 will have way better stats than the already evolved ones you catch
and the higher their levels are in each tier, before evolving, the better their final stats will be
Die Squirrel Die
Member
Well, I guess it's too late for my Griffy, he's already level 2, not that he really needs much help boosting stats.
I'll probably just carry on as is for now, leave the power-leveling super familiars until later.
zeopower6
Member
It's kind of funny how 100k-120k~ is 'flopping' in Japan.
To put it in perspective, Ni no Kuni sold in Japan more than Tales of Graces F did in the states. (reportedly anyway).
Tales of Graces F did about 60-70k, I think in the US while in Japan it did about 300k. I think the highest selling PS3 RPGs tend to be Final Fantasy (obviously) and Tales, especially Tales as of late. I'd hope that people don't expect all RPGs released in Japan to pull numbers like Final Fantasy.
Some numbers for Tales' last releases on the PS3:
Vesperia PS3 - 340k~
Graces F - 300k~
Xillia - 635k~
Xillia 2 - 420k~+
For a new IP and also one that sort of came after a DS version of a game which according to Level-5, sold around 500k units, it did okay. I would chalk up the lack of sales partly due to the majority of the audience in Japan owning DSes instead of PS3s... and there was no way that this game was selling more than 200-300k in Japan considering that they only shipped about 160k compared to the 600k they shipped for the DS game. This game was also really expensive (100USD~ regular edition with a first press copy of the "Magic Master Classic"... same price after the first press bonus went out of stock) at launch so that may have influenced buyers as well.
We'll only know if it's doing well here if Level-5 says anything about its success. So far though, it's surpassed most people's expectations. (which was for it to kind of come out unnoticed with horrible reviews)
I like to think of a 'flop' or 'bomb' as how Time Travelers (another Level-5 title) performed in Japan. It had a pretty all star writing team and was fully voiced, but it was basically a glamorous visual novel (which I think is hot) so it only sold around 40k-50k total across the 3DS/VITA/PSP.
A lot of Level 5 games seem to do better worldwide than it does in Japan. Dark Cloud was sold 120,000 in Japan, but topped a million worldwide. In the end it got a sequel. Of course that was about 12 years ago, and things have changed, so who know how this is doing ans whether or not we will get a sequel to the game.
So I am a few hours into this game and I really love it.
The story is very endearring and I feel it has the special Studio Ghibli feel to it.
The combat system is enjoyable to me, however a gambit system would have been a nice addition.
The graphics and sounds are amazing and the world design has so much love to it. Also the NPC's give a very lively vibe to the cities.
This might be my nr 1 Jrpg of this generation if it holds up all the way.
The story is very endearring and I feel it has the special Studio Ghibli feel to it.
The combat system is enjoyable to me, however a gambit system would have been a nice addition.
The graphics and sounds are amazing and the world design has so much love to it. Also the NPC's give a very lively vibe to the cities.
This might be my nr 1 Jrpg of this generation if it holds up all the way.
Freezasaurus
Member
Are you talking about the guy in the suit who
keeps losing his journal
zeopower6
Member
If I recall correctly, his item is
at a tree near Old Smoky, right? Just look around every tree in that area until you get a ! symbol.
Didn't the game sell about 150k in Japan? Not a success, but not a huge flop either. We're talking about a country where 1M sales is a huge success (sales within Japan, at least). Not sure what Level-5's sales predictions were like. We'd need to look at the market at the time too. Did a lot of other big deal games come out that week/month? I remember hearing they overshipped the game. I remember hearing about complaints on the difficulty too.
zeopower6
Member
Around that, yes.
It wasn't a runaway hit but it wasn't like it sold under 50k... it sold around 65k first week.
That week, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 came out at #1 with a One Piece game on the DS at #2, lol.
zeopower6
Member
I'd guess it's because they want you to experience it at least once.
It's pretty early on too since you'd be around level 15-20 at the time which kinda stinks... but eh.
See, those titles would definitely affect other games more. I guess they were hoping the Ghibli brand would carry it more.
The first time it's forced... No one liked it, but you get better Pokémon soon anyways. Get yourself a Naja back in Ding Dong Well, and a Purrloiner to the south. Happiness will ensue.