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Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch |OT|

ULTROS!

ULTROS!

People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks.
I'm having a difficult time catching the familiars. I'm trying to catch 2 for a specific quest im the second continent but nothing comes out. I use my familiars to beat them though. Any tips or tricks?
 
A

Andrew.

Banned
Grinded a bit to reach level 7 before I even ventured into Ding Dong Dell. The Tree Guardian was kind of a pushover and I'm really enjoying the combat so far. It's pretty useful to run around the enemies, wait for them to attack and then go in and beat them down.

Question: Is the only way to obtain the sidequests through the bulletin board in Swift Solutions? I've done three of them so far as well as the first bounty mission but I want to make sure theres no arbitrary NPC around town that will offer me something before I move on with the storyline.
 
Z

zyxwvu4321

Member
Andrew. said:
Grinded a bit to reach level 7 before I even ventured into Ding Dong Dell. The Tree Guardian was kind of a pushover and I'm really enjoying the combat so far. It's pretty useful to run around the enemies, wait for them to attack and then go in and beat them down.

Question: Is the only way to obtain the sidequests through the bulletin board in Swift Solutions? I've done three of them so far as well as the first bounty mission but I want to make sure theres no arbitrary NPC around town that will offer me something before I move on with the storyline.
Click to expand...

If you run into the person who posted a quest on the board, you can get the quest directly from them instead of having to read it first. They will already be flashing on the minimap.
 
N

nib95

Banned
Been so damn long since I played a decent JRPG I'm literally super excited for the games releases in the UK. Can't wait!
 
E

Esura

Banned
Zareth said:
It's in the companion listed in the description of their genus. All familiar's of a genus share the same favorite food.
Click to expand...

Oh, I was reading the pages for specific familiars so that's why I didn't catch it. Thanks bro.

I wonder did it take anyone about 10 hours to get to
Al Mamoon
with only one party member still? This game is taking a really long time to get me in the gameplay fully.
 
Z

zyxwvu4321

Member
ULTROS! said:
I'm having a difficult time catching the familiars. I'm trying to catch 2 for a specific quest im the second continent but nothing comes out. I use my familiars to beat them though. Any tips or tricks?
Click to expand...

From what I've seen, it's just a luck thing. It took me ~70 kills to get the banana thing.
 
S

Suikoguy

I whinny my fervor lowly, for his length is not as great as those of the Hylian war stallions
zyxwvu4321 said:
From what I've seen, it's just a luck thing. It took me ~70 kills to get the banana thing.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's just a smallish chance.

It does seem there is a higher chance if it's the first enemy you kill if there is more then one.

Game Mechanics Spoiler:
You do, (much) later get something that increases the chance of it happening
 
base shagohod

base shagohod

Member
h3ro said:
Don't have much of an issue with the review. He seems to be levying the same issues/annoyances at the that anyone who has put a good amount of time into it will have at least noticed. I wish we could ignore scores for reviews because it becomes the focus of discussion not the content of the review.
Click to expand...

I like this.

Finally got to Al Mamoon yesterday after finishing up the bounties and side quests of the first town. The music just gets better and better.. Found myself whistling the battle theme every time I got into a fight, haha.
 
S

Sorian

Banned
Andrew. said:
Grinded a bit to reach level 7 before I even ventured into Ding Dong Dell. The Tree Guardian was kind of a pushover and I'm really enjoying the combat so far. It's pretty useful to run around the enemies, wait for them to attack and then go in and beat them down.

Question: Is the only way to obtain the sidequests through the bulletin board in Swift Solutions? I've done three of them so far as well as the first bounty mission but I want to make sure theres no arbitrary NPC around town that will offer me something before I move on with the storyline.
Click to expand...

Not that you can miss it but if you havent yet, go to (minor Ding Dong area spoiler)
Grave to teh east of the castle that everyone is talking about and speak to the boy standing behind it
 
E

Emilbus

Member
The 'all out defense' is a godsend and definitely increase the AI party member survivability. Did the first boss after getting the ability and no one died to some stupid AoE because they weren't smart enough to block on their own.
 
Revolutionary

Revolutionary

Member
Emilbus said:
The 'all out defense' is a godsend and definitely increase the AI party member survivability. Did the first boss after getting the ability and no one died to some stupid AoE because they weren't smart enough to block on their own.
Click to expand...
Yeah, but it shows up wayyyy too late in the game lol. I think it should've been introduced for the Ol Smoky boss (second demo part).
 
Boss Man

Boss Man

Member
Does this game have hidden/hard-to-acquire things in it at all, or is it all pretty set in stone as for what you will ever acquire? Stuff like "omega weapons" or "golden chocobos" is what I mean. Obviously doesn't need to be a weapon or type of transportation.
 
semiconscious

semiconscious

Member
from the polygon review:

Ni no Kuni's combat takes place in real time, though it allows you to pause to switch between Oliver and one of the other party members or any of the familiars currently in your employ. You can run around the battlefield at will as whichever character or creature you've selected, but you still choose your actions — even the most basic attack — from a menu. While real-time combat makes for faster battles than if it were turn-based, the lack of direct control is often frustrating. Selecting "attack" brings up a five- to ten-second timer, and until it runs out, your character will continue a series of auto-attacks on the enemy. Sometimes you'll choose attack but the creature you're controlling will inexplicably just stand there for the first few seconds of the timer, letting it tick down. I was never able to work out why this happens from time to time.

Attacks also have a minimum range requirement, so often your character will burn some of the attack counter getting closer to an enemy. That wouldn't be a problem except that sometimes characters will get stuck running head-first into an ally as they try to line up an attack. You can't actually control any movement until the attack timer runs down unless you cancel the command ... which in turn introduces a cooldown timer before you can select it again. It's a sloppy combat system that's even more frustrating when you realize how much it holds back your AI partners from being effective.

The lack of control is annoying but workable for most of the regular enemy encounters throughout Ni no Kuni, but it's a serious hindrance in more difficult boss battles. Boss encounters are built around a primary strategy of avoiding major attacks by defending or evading. As with all other actions, defending requires flipping through a menu and selecting it in real time; therefore bosses have build-up to their major attacks to give you time to select. For many bosses, this build-up time isn't nearly long enough. I often struggled to cancel whatever attack I was doing, move the cursor to defend, select it and successfully have my character enter a defense stance before the boss pulled off a devastating spell.

These timing problems make Ni no Kuni feel unbalanced, particularly in the mid-game when I had started to gather a large collection of monsters but didn't have any built up to particularly powerful levels. Later bosses have better tells, putting the game's detailed animation to use, and a bigger selection of buffed-up familiars makes even the most difficult end-game fights more approachable. There's a relatively fun — if difficult-to-manage — combat system at the heart of Ni no Kuni, but you'll have to really work to see it for at least a third of the game.
Click to expand...

so, is this an accurate description of the combat mechanics? because, having replayed the demo, it feels to me like it is, & is the only thing making me hold off on the game. were this game old-school turn-based, i'd already be playing it, but i'm having a hard time convincing myself i'd enjoy playing through a 40+ hr game using the combat system described above...


tl;dr: aesthetics/story/music/characters/side-quests aside: is ni no kuni's combat system messy? or fun? or both? :) ...
 
P

pixelpushr

Neo Member
DoctorWho said:
Easy and Normal.

I'm playing on Easy and found myself dying a couple of times about ten hours in because I didn't grind enough. Feels almost like Normal and the gameplay is still a challenge. The only frustration comes from juggling between all the characters and familiars you have to use.
Click to expand...

I started on normal but switched to easy after I kept dying. I haven't played a jrpg since Dark Cloud 2 so the combat feels pretty weird to me and its taking a while to get used to.
 
A

Andrew.

Banned
Sorian said:
Not that you can miss it but if you havent yet, go to (minor Ding Dong area spoiler)
Grave to teh east of the castle that everyone is talking about and speak to the boy standing behind it
Click to expand...

Oh yes that was actually the first thing I stumbled upon when I arrived and started exploring the place.
 
R

rockx4

Member
semiconscious said:
from the polygon review:



so, is this an accurate description of the combat mechanics? because, having replayed the demo, it feels to me like it is, & is the only thing making me hold off on the game. were this game old-school turn-based, i'd already be playing it, but i'm having a hard time convincing myself i'd enjoy playing through a 40+ hr game using the combat system described above...


tl;dr: aesthetics/story/music/characters/side-quests aside: is ni no kuni's combat system messy? or fun? or both? :) ...
Click to expand...

That's how it felt for me in the demo, which is why I cancelled my preorder. I was hyped for the game and the demo unsold me. I'm wondering if it changes later on, I only tried a bit of the demo and I didn't like it.
 
L

Leunam

Member
semiconscious said:
from the polygon review:



so, is this an accurate description of the combat mechanics? because, having replayed the demo, it feels to me like it is, & is the only thing making me hold off on the game. were this game old-school turn-based, i'd already be playing it, but i'm having a hard time convincing myself i'd enjoy playing through a 40+ hr game using the combat system described above...


tl;dr: aesthetics/story/music/characters/side-quests aside: is ni no kuni's combat system messy? or fun? or both? :) ...
Click to expand...

From what I've played I'm enjoyed the hell out of it. Cancelling an attack and going defensive is quick enough (the actual defensive stance activates instantly, it looks like) and since you control movement during battle it's easy to get into a better position to get your bearings together and decide if you want to switch familiars, cast a spell, use an item, etc.

I haven't gotten to the point where I have to juggle multiple familiars at once so I can't comment on that. Most of the criticisms (wind up time for attacks) are spot on, though.

This bit here:

Attacks also have a minimum range requirement, so often your character will burn some of the attack counter getting closer to an enemy. That wouldn't be a problem except that sometimes characters will get stuck running head-first into an ally as they try to line up an attack. You can't actually control any movement until the attack timer runs down unless you cancel the command ... which in turn introduces a cooldown timer before you can select it again. It's a sloppy combat system that's even more frustrating when you realize how much it holds back your AI partners from being effective.
Click to expand...

If you're playing with multiple characters/familiars, being aware of where they are and what they are doing relative to you should go without saying so running into allies shouldn't be that big a problem. But it can be an issue once attack animations start. Mitey, for instance, likes to hop around a little before striking and different mobs have different movement patterns. So yeah, positioning can be a problem at times I'm sure. Again, I haven't gotten very far.
 
D

Dynamic3

Member
An example of something I really don't like:

Why is the ghost that gives you the medium spell listed on the map as a flashing dot? Why even hide him behind the wall in the first place? It seems that every activity is simply run to the flashing dot or star and back, and aside from seeing new art, there is no purpose for exploration. I would so much rather they just included a line of dialogue to point you in the general direction for side quests, and keep encounters like the ghost a secret to find.
 
B

BearPawB

Banned
Dynamic3 said:
An example of something I really don't like:

Why is the ghost that gives you the medium spell listed on the map as a flashing dot? Why even hide him behind the wall in the first place? It seems that every activity is simply run to the flashing dot or star and back, and aside from seeing new art, there is no purpose for exploration. I would so much rather they just included a line of dialogue to point you in the general direction for side quests, and keep encounters like the ghost a secret to find.
Click to expand...

Sorry misread what you said, I agree. But I also never noticed the dot
 
base shagohod

base shagohod

Member
Leunam said:
From what I've played I'm enjoyed the hell out of it. Cancelling an attack and going defensive is quick enough and since you control movement during battle it's easy to get into a better position to get your bearings together and decide if you want to switch familiars, cast a spell, use an item, etc.

I haven't gotten to the point where I have to juggle multiple familiars at once so I can't comment on that. Most of the criticisms (wind up time for attacks) are spot on, though.
Click to expand...

Yep. The key for me was using L2 and R2 as someone suggested earlier in the thread (instead of the D-pad).
 
D

Dinosur

Member
Combat strategy finally clicked at the beginning of evening #2 so that made me feel better about myself. Then of course I got the first AI partner and they had to go make everything goofy again. Ended up setting the Tactic to "back me up" or one of those defensively minded ones which seems to have stopped them from using 50mp within five seconds of every battle.

Unfortunately, now that I can catch familiars, I probably won't play the game-proper for the next two nights, hehe. Must amass my monster army.
 
Acrylic7

Acrylic7

Member
ULTROS! said:
I'm having a difficult time catching the familiars. I'm trying to catch 2 for a specific quest im the second continent but nothing comes out. I use my familiars to beat them though. Any tips or tricks?
Click to expand...

I know that mission.
I got those 2 before I knew what the guy wanted me to bring back. I didn't have to do a thing, 4 free merit points :)

The best thing to do is catch any Familiar that you dont own and that likes you while Grinding for xp. This way you aren't stressed at not being able to catch it. Just fight a lot, sooner or later a Monster you defeat will like you. Just think of it as leveling up in Pokemon, then finding a rare Pokemon you like by accident. Just a perk.



Battle tips- Fight with Mite, and set Esthers commands to Attack same enemy, and Heal Team.
Cant lose.
 
N

noffles

Banned
Anyone got a potential hour count of this? I'm pretty tempted to throw down the money to secure a copy for the UK launch, but I need an idea of how much time I'll be putting into it before I commit to that.
 
W

Willectro

Banned
semiconscious said:
from the polygon review:

so, is this an accurate description of the combat mechanics? because, having replayed the demo, it feels to me like it is, & is the only thing making me hold off on the game. were this game old-school turn-based, i'd already be playing it, but i'm having a hard time convincing myself i'd enjoy playing through a 40+ hr game using the combat system described above...

tl;dr: aesthetics/story/music/characters/side-quests aside: is ni no kuni's combat system messy? or fun? or both? :) ...
Click to expand...

I find that if I take my time and run around to avoid attacks, utilize counter-attacks, and defend at the correct time, the combat system works well. The problem is on some of the trivial mobs where I don't want to spend the time. The controls could be a bit better. It's not very intuitive to have to move and cycle through attacks with the same thumb (sometimes I'll reach over with my other hand). I think the key to the boss fights is patience as you aren't going to burn them down in seconds.

All that being said, I love polygon.com, but I think their review is a bit harsh. If you want to be able to issue an attack command and have your character instantly run over and attack, play FFXIII. Ni No Kuni is not perfect, but if you take the time to learn some of the subtle nuances, the sum of all its parts are a rewarding experience.
 
P

Plumpman

Member
Does anyone know if there's a way to consistently counter? It says the Attack button flashes blue, but I almost NEVER see that happen.

Also, is it just me or does swapping out during enemy attacks "tech" dodge their attack?
 
Majmun

Majmun

Member
I've put almost 15 hours into the game now. I have to say that I agree with some of the the negative points regarding the game, but I also agree with the positive things.

The battlesystem can get a bit messy at times. Especially when it comes to the menu. The pacing can get slow and Drippy basically tells you what you have to do ALL THE TIME. (he's awesome, though)

But for me the positives faaaaaaaar outweigh the negatives.

The game is magical to me. I just can't stop playing it. DQVIII is the last game that gave me the same feeling. Visiting new towns, doing new sidesquest, collecting stamps and familiars, exploring the vast overworld.... It really works well and I can't get enough of it. Mix that with the perfect audiovisuals, and you get an amazing old-skool jrpg.

And the difficulty spikes don't bother me at all. I've died quite a few times now. Savepoints are always near a boss fight when you're in a dungeoun. And you can save at any point everywhere else. So that's not an issue to me.

I'd recommend this game to all jrpg fans, to be honest. It's really good so far.
 
base shagohod

base shagohod

Member
Willectro said:
I find that if I take my time and run around to avoid attacks, utilize counter-attacks, and defend at the correct time, the combat system works well. The problem is on some of the trivial mobs where I don't want to spend the time. The controls could be a bit better. It's not very intuitive to have to move and cycle through attacks with the same thumb (sometimes I'll reach over with my other hand). I think the key to the boss fights is patience as you aren't going to burn them down in seconds.
Click to expand...
L2/R2, my man.
Plumpman said:
Also, is it just me or does swapping out during enemy attacks "tech" dodge their attack?
Click to expand...
Yeah, I've done this by accident a couple of times.
 
D

Dinosur

Member
noffles said:
Anyone got a potential hour count of this? I'm pretty tempted to throw down the money to secure a copy for the UK launch, but I need an idea of how much time I'll be putting into it before I commit to that.
Click to expand...

Seems to be a general consensus of ~40 hours to get through the main game and ~80 to do everything.

That's just from reading the thread though and not personal experience.
 
Acrylic7

Acrylic7

Member
I have absolutely no clue where the issues and problems are coming from with this game.

Breezing through the game. 14 hours in and haven't used a single item besides Blindness Be Gone.
Breezed through every Boss and enemy.
Battle system is insanely simplistic

I think the issues are coming from lack of patience and common sense. :/
 
D

derder

Member
I'm going to borrow a friends ps3 to play this. I won't have time to start it until mid-feb and would like to wait for a sale, if possible. When should I buy the game? Is there any chance of the first print selling out?
 
A

Aeana

Member
The L2/R2 thing really makes battles a lot more workable. Sad that they don't really make it known in the game. Perhaps I should take that guy's recommendation from earlier in the thread and add it to the title after all.
 
A

Andrew.

Banned
How do you eventually open the purple and blue chests? Since I wont get the guide til next week I'm writing down all the locations of them that Ive stumbled upon (which I really dont mind doing)
 
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