The strange thing about this game is that, while I recognize that there are a fair number of problems that make me hesitant to recommend it as a purchase, none of those problems are actually bothering me much at all.
To be fair, I'm still too early to have encountered the ai problems that seem to be the main complaint.
You're definitely moving at a slow pace, I think I finished Old Smoky around the low teen hour mark with doing all sidequests and stuff. But that's about 30% done, I'd say.
No, don't imply that from my post, it's just the level Oliver happens to be & we haven't finished the game. Our approach has been to be overleveled for everything and toko/tokotoko hunting made that easy and fast (her game is sitting just over 30 hours, main storyline only). There was no intent to get these last few levels - just random Tokotocolds showing up in battle for 24,000 a pop.
Unless the final battle's difficulty spikes enormously from the previous ones, 63 is going to be way too powerful. The prior bosses were already cakewalks in the mid 50s.
I'm getting my EU Wizard's Edition this week and before i dive in i wanted to ask how appropriate the story is for little kids. I've been on a media blackout for a good while now, so i don't know much about the story beside the basic premise of
Oliver's mom dying at the start and him going to the other world to try and save her or something like that.
My soon to be 4 year old niece enjoys watching me play games with charming art styles and a straightforward story (Sly Cooper and Okami, for example) and after seeing the NNK demo, she expressed interest in watching me play that as well. We have seen a bunch of Ghibli films together (Totoro, Kiki, Laputa, Chihiro, Howl, Whisper of the Heart, Arriety and Ponyo) and she's a fan of those. I know Studio Ghibli isn't responsible for the story in NNK, but would she be fine following the main story and sidequests in NNK if she has seen those, or are there any really tragic and irreversible twists of fate that could trouble her (aside from the thing that happens at the start of the story, which i'm not planing on showing her)? I have to add that our native language isn't english, so i'd be translating everything that would be said and could potentially soften the dialogue a bit if necessary. She is very empathic and can get quite invested into characters, so it would be unfortunate if for instance characters would be dropping like flies left and right, though i doubt that would be the case for this game.
Without spoiling too much, could anyone share some insight on this?
I'm getting my EU Wizard's Edition this week and before i dive in i wanted to ask how appropriate the story is for little kids. I've been on a media blackout for a good while now, so i don't know much about the story beside the basic premise of
Oliver's mom dying at the start and him going to the other world to try and save her or something like that.
My soon to be 4 year old niece enjoys watching me play games with charming art styles and a straightforward story (Sly Cooper and Okami, for example) and after seeing the NNK demo, she expressed interest in watching me play that as well. We have seen a bunch of Ghibli films together (Totoro, Kiki, Laputa, Chihiro, Howl, Whisper of the Heart, Arriety and Ponyo) and she's a fan of those. I know Studio Ghibli isn't responsible for the story in NNK, but would she be fine following the main story and sidequests in NNK if she has seen those, or are there any really tragic and irreversible twists of fate that could trouble her (aside from the thing that happens at the start of the story, which i'm not planing on showing her)? I have to add that our native language isn't english, so i'd be translating everything that would be said and could potentially soften the dialogue a bit if necessary. She is very empathic and can get quite invested into characters, so it would be unfortunate if for instance characters would be dropping like flies left and right, though i doubt that would be the case for this game.
Without spoiling too much, could anyone share some insight on this?
One thing up front, confirming what you already know: it's not Miyazaki, so the Ghibli connection is just visuals. As for the story's set-up, it is nowhere near as hamfisted as most Disney set-ups that kick off by killing parent/orphaning kids, and it has a very low key role through the whole thing.
Violence is very low level, on par with Nausicaa or Spirited Away's action sequences. Nothing as a scary as Spirited Away.
If you care about profanity, there's a few damns and such sprinkled around.
All in all, I say spend the first 1-2 hours with it by yourself, because you'll have your own threshhold of what's appropriate. Then start over again with her.
Some of the fierce bosses can be a little scary for a four-year old, but they still have a cuteness factor somewhere. And since it's okay for her watching Ghibli movies, whom have way creepier creatures, i'm certain this game will be something you could enjoy together as well. There are a lot of speach bubbles though. The lore is suprisingly rich and the story seems to be getting quite complex, but the main-lines stay pretty clear.
The whole game is filled with joy and, to my suprise (and not even forced), a lot of life-lessons beneath all the magical fantasy, wich you could maybe point out during playing. If she's one who listens, that is.
Violence is minimal as can be, and it's made clear none of the animals really "die". They just, uh, go somewhere different for a while when defeaten. They go all phoosh "pwetty colors in a smoke bubble"
It's squeaky clean. I've heard there's a casino somewhere, but for what I know that's really the worst you will find. Take note: I haven't completed the game yet. As seen above, i'm at +-30%
The spoiler you mention really is a sad scene. Gave me flashbacks from Bambi.
Doubt it. I just hit 70-72 with each of my characters and I haven't made it to the final dungeon yet, although I think I'm on my way. Every boss since I've discovered those tokos near Perdida have been a cakewalk.
What abilities do you have with Olive and what Items do you have at hand? You also only need to take him down to the half way mark. After this battle you will get the ability to defend both your party member at the same time with square button.
So once you get the ability to tame familiars, is it a purloiner and one of those snakes (can't remember name) which are good quick catches to start with?
Man January was the worst month not to have any money. Would have ordered the Wizard Edition if I had any at all to spend. Though it probably would have been cancelled anyway.
Seeing as there where no regular copy's for sale at all either I bought a few PSN vouchers and got it on the PS Store today. Took 4 hours of downloading and almost an hour of installing but I'm finally ready to dive in.
So once you get the ability to tame familiars, is it a purloiner and one of those snakes (can't remember name) which are good quick catches to start with?
About trading in the tickets for DLC familiars: I know, after Googling it, that you're supposed to do it at the
Temple of Trials
, but how would I find that out in the game? I haven't heard a word about any such thing. The game just told me I have some new tickets after I downloaded the familars, and that's that. No mention about where to trade them in. Are you supposed to just figure that out on your own? I don't know how I would have guess that had I not Googled it. Or is it because I didn't redeem any of my codes until after I had been at the aforementioned location?
About trading in the tickets for DLC familiars: I know, after googling it, that you're supposed to do it at the
Temple of Trials
, but how would I find that out in the game? I haven't heard a word about any such thing. The game just told me I have some new tickets after I downloaded the familars, and that's that. No mention about where to trade them in. Are you supposed to just figure that out on your own? Or is it because I didn't redeem any of my codes until after I had been at the aforementioned location? Seems a bit weird to me.
Damn. Just received a mail from Amazon UK saying that they are awaiting stocks from their suppliers for the standard edition of Ninokuni! I ordered a few days before release. Estimated arrival date is now February 20th. Anyone else still expecting their copy ? I knew they had issues with the wizards edition but even the regular one? Damn Namco
Oh, so he actually mentions it if you talk to him again? Well, guess I didn't do that then. Weird oversight that this info seemingly doesn't exist anywhere else in the game. The ticket description should say "Trade it in for a familiar at...". Without the all-knowing power of the internet I would have had no idea.
What abilities do you have with Olive and what Items do you have at hand? You also only need to take him down to the half way mark. After this battle you will get the ability to defend both your party member at the same time with square button.
Okay that helps a bit to know. Oliver is at lvl 21 with Mighty Mite, Dumblemur and Griffy. Griffy hasn't been evolved as I lack the drop to do it :/ he's stuck at nax lvl.
Oh, so he actually mentions it if you talk to him again? Well, guess I didn't do that then. Weird oversight that this info seemingly doesn't exist anywhere else in the game. The ticket info should say "Trade it in for a familiar at...". Without the all-knowing power of the internet I would have had no idea.
But you do inevitably talk to him after the trials, don't you? He gives you stuff, teaches you how to
capture familiars
(not sure if this is really a spoiler I need to be hiding, but eh), etc. So why doesn't he mention the tickets as well? You have to manually talk to him once again after that for him to tell you that?
Oh, so he actually mentions it if you talk to him again? Well, guess I didn't do that then. Weird oversight that this info seemingly doesn't exist anywhere else in the game. The ticket description should say "Trade it in for a familiar at...". Without the all-knowing power of the internet I would have had no idea.
I just made it to Hamelin... and what can I say? Absolutely loving it... you really get hit by the Ghibli when you reach
the Fairy village
.
My only complaints are that the familiar system seems a bit grindy - most new familiars start at level 1, and when you evolve a familiar they also start back at level 1.. means that I keep on relying on my same-ol' familiars (Mitey and Gogo) for the most part. Especially after how awesome Persona 4's fusion system (the game I played immediately before this one) was.
But you do inevitably talk to him after the trials, don't you? He gives you stuff, teaches you how to
capture familiars
(not sure if this is really a spoiler I need to be hiding, but eh), etc. So why doesn't he mention the tickets as well? You have to manually talk to him once again after that for him to tell you that?
I thought it was a strange gameplay decision. I never ran into anyone in Al Mamoon that tells you to go there to redeem the tickets, but I also didn't bother talking to everyone.
So once you get the ability to tame familiars, is it a purloiner and one of those snakes (can't remember name) which are good quick catches to start with?
They're both good options to replace the Mite, though the snake (Naja) won't be that useful in the short term since its stats develop more slowly. It's great at high levels, though.
Okay that helps a bit to know. Oliver is at lvl 21 with Mighty Mite, Dumblemur and Griffy. Griffy hasn't been evolved as I lack the drop to do it :/ he's stuck at nax lvl.
So I should just use Oliver and let the other two die? That would probably be easier. I'm gonna give it a try
EDIT: Just did it. Way easier when you only focus on Oliver and casting magic. Thanks!
BTW, you should have all the drops you need to evolve Griffy, but it's possible you missed them. The Familiar Retreat guy hands them to you if you talk to him just before the boss area of Mt. Smokey.
The next boss is roughly the same in terms of difficulty. If you find you're not enjoying it, there's a quick way to level up after you leave the next area - I've got a tutorial post on Toko hunting several pages back.
Was kind of hoping Finland would've gotten another "nordic edition" version of the game with all the preorder bonuses, but I guess that's a no. Really wanted that Griffy, I really enjoy being super op in RPGs.
He has to be leveled to his morphable level, which is like 33 or 34. The 20/20 is the stat increases, and you need to feed him more to get more hearts, which adds +10 to that each extra heart.
So once you get the ability to tame familiars, is it a purloiner and one of those snakes (can't remember name) which are good quick catches to start with?
Eventually. He definitely does not when you first get him. In fact, depending on how many sidequests or even grinding you end up doing (or forced grinding if you're having terrible luck with the Derwin quests), he won't even be Mitey's equal until around the time you get
Tengri
or possibly not until
after Glittering Grotto if that was your first destination
. Approximately level 30 into his second form. Sure, for fighting star signs he'll have the edge earlier, but typically it won't make that much of a difference for each overall battle, especially boss fights which appear to be planet signs. Honestly, the sad thing is that aside from some of it's tricks, you'll most likely barely bother to even use it anymore in most fights by the time it becomes worth using over Mitey anyway. It's largest attraction is it's look.
Oliver's familiars in general are rather lacking until you can at least get a Plessie, and then later he has the best through the Dino. The Bighorn is probably his best "survival" familiar early on though. It's not too terribly exciting in battle, but it does "okay" damage, and seems to be able to outlast most every other early familiar type Oliver can get due to it's physical resist. It also has access to some decent early level tricks.
Well today is definitely my lucky day. I've found 3 tokocold's so far just exploring on my own, no farming or anything. That's like 70k+ xp in about 30 minutes
So what's the verdict on Dragamuffin vs Bedraggle? About to metamorphose and I kinda like 'em both. Is there a point in the game where I can catch either (or another Draggle)? I'm up to
Glittering Grotto atm, just got my first stone. Also, where is that damn diary?
