Ni no Kuni demo coming Tuesday!

[Blacksite]

The demo was pretty good. It's split into two parts - both of which have boss battles but you get to run around an overworld map in the former.

[Dave-The-Rave]

Sweet, well I just have to wait about 7 or 8 hours until the UK store uploads later. How big is the download?

[dc89]

2.6GB. I downloaded it from the US PSN store.

It's beautiful :')

[Fenix]

Not sure I liked it, is there a tutorial anywhere that explains the battle system at all? I grasp the general idea of it, but some things seem kind of off to me

[Wrath]

While I generally enjoyed the gameplay I was kinda put off by the overly childish presentation.

I guess I will have to wait for a proper FF for my RPG fix after all.

[Ixion]

I was kinda put off by the overly childish presentation.

That was always my main concern. The game looks fun and beautiful, but too childish, which means it probably won't be relatable or have much of a story.

[AaronSOLDIER]

Buy Tales of Xillia then, best JRPG this gen IMO.

[imINxile]

I really liked the demo. It was gorgeous. I was right at home with the battle system. The sense of urgency of real-time movements with classic turn-based aspects mixed in. Not too concerned with the childish feel, it'll probably grow on me. Plus I knew I was playing a L5 game once I seen the bottomless bag, I smiled!

Will be getting the game for sure.

[Fenix]

Buy Tales of Xillia then, best JRPG this gen IMO.

Is it? Some people dont seem to like it, hows Tales of Graces F? Kind of want to get into the tales series

[Kakihara_Anjo]

Anyone worried about it being "overly childish".
This is being done by studio Ghibli. Go watch My Neighbor Totoro, Whisper of the Heart, The cat returns, Ponyo, etc

They frequently have a childish look to them, but the characters and story never disappoint.

I don't care about the game coming from level 5, its the fact that it's studio Ghibli that I love. I do not think they ever put out a bad movie.

[Dave-The-Rave]

Loved the demo, my only complaint is I HATE TIMED DEMOS !! I had to play the fire level twice because I only found the best way to kill the boss when the time was about to end !! Just chose a damn place for the the demo to end instead of forcing us to complete it as fast as possible. If they are worried about people leveling too much they can just stick a level cap on it too.

[KungMartin90]

Anyone worried about it being "overly childish".
This is being done by studio Ghibli. Go watch My Neighbor Totoro, Whisper of the Heart, The cat returns, Ponyo, etc

They frequently have a childish look to them, but the characters and story never disappoint.

I don't care about the game coming from level 5, its the fact that it's studio Ghibli that I love. I do not think they ever put out a bad movie.

It won't necessarily be "childish", but it's a game that's intentionally supposed to be suitable for all ages. If you've played Dragon Quest VIII, you'll know what to expect.

Anyway, the demo was way fun. If anyone was having trouble with the first boss in the woods, just stay far away from him and spam fireballs. He's really easy. I bet he's intentionally a really simple boss.

Here's a random photo I took while playing just for fun

[Blacksite]

Overly-childish?

Ni no Kuni's story deals with a thirteen-year old boy who loses his mother and travels to a parallel reality to find her. As great as they might have been, what original story did any recent Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest deal with that was anymore deep and emotional?

The usual JRPG character trope e.g. a brooding, spiky-haired teenager trying to find his purpose in life while taking down an evil empire is getting old. This is the first JRPG in a long time that isn't as black and white.

[Ixion]

Overly-childish?

Ni no Kuni's story deals with a thirteen-year old boy who loses his mother and travels to a parallel reality to find her. As great as they might have been, what original story did any recent Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest deal with that was anymore deep and emotional?

The usual JRPG character trope e.g. a brooding, spiky-haired teenager trying to find his purpose in life while taking down an evil empire is getting old. This is the first JRPG in a long time that isn't as black and white.

I was just expressing the concern I've had ever since I've seen this game. I don't know anything about the story, nor have I played the demo. So perhaps it will surprise me.

Hopefully I'll have time to play the demo tonight.

[Forcedme]

what original story did any recent Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest deal with that was anymore deep and emotional?

FFXIII forced a cast of characters into slavery under the grip of distant Gods who ruled them through promise and fear, and in each character's scenario the realization that any path they took would lead to their own end caused them to sink into depression, doubt, and hatred towards each other. One specific character witnesses his mother's death, falsely blames another member of the cast, and forces himself to become brave by foolish, idealistic standards, only so to enact the revenge he plots for the first half of the game, all the while being witnessed by another cast-member, who sees parts of herself in him and realizes the path he's going on is not the right one, and becomes for him the nurturing family member she failed to be for her deceased/trapped sister, thus acting on a sense of guilt that goads her on for much of the tale. And that's just three out of a cast of six.

People may hate the game and its execution, but FFXIII definitely aimed for some darker themes.

[XSpike]

I don't care about the game coming from level 5, its the fact that it's studio Ghibli that I love. I do not think they ever put out a bad movie.

You should care that its coming from Level 5, Lvl5 is like the best fit for a Studio Ghibli story as they've made games with similar art style before and are great at making RPG's such as this

Overly-childish?

Ni no Kuni's story deals with a thirteen-year old boy who loses his mother and travels to a parallel reality to find her. As great as they might have been, what original story did any recent Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest deal with that was anymore deep and emotional?

The usual JRPG character trope e.g. a brooding, spiky-haired teenager trying to find his purpose in life while taking down an evil empire is getting old. This is the first JRPG in a long time that isn't as black and white.

Look no further then the names of citys/people(things), Ding Dong Dell, Lord High Lord of the Fairies (he doesn't even look like a fairy...) N his name Drippy. This game could easily be transformed into a movie targeted mainly at younger people. Then you got such such young characters, and the story being so Studio Ghibli like which targets younger viewers in take them on a magical journey - but that doesn't mean you or I (24yrs old) can't fully enjoy this game

Anyone else here look at the world map and just think "That's how Final Fantasy should of looked like this generation" the map is fulled of detail, the size differences between the characters/trees/city all look perfect and the map is huge, ready to be explored! Its a bummer that FFtype-0 had a lot going for it, but SE are just a bunch of slackers who think FF fans want them to fix up Final Fantasy 13's bad story/gameplay by releasing even more FF13 titles.

[Blacksite]

My favorite part of the overworld map was how the clouds above would cast their shadows on the ground. I would love to see more of that in video games instead of the usual static skybox/skydome.

[Ixion]

People may hate the game and its execution, but FFXIII definitely aimed for some darker themes.

Yep, it came down to the execution, or more specifically, the dialogue. Too trite and sacharine. The reason many of the previous Final Fantasy stories were well-received was because they focused more on plot and exposition. To focus as heavily on character emotions as FFXIII did, there's a much higher standard of nuance that's required of the writers.

[Wrath]

Guys, read my post again.

I was not talking about the game being too childish per se but the presentation itself. All these little smacking noises that your sidekick makes for example or the victory theme of the boy after each fight are just a bit too much for me.

The story itself sure sounds interesting enough and the soundtrack is great too!

[Dave-The-Rave]

I'm willing to bet because of the circumstances of how the game begins it will end up in the end that the whole thing was in the kid's imagination as a coping mechanism to help him get over the loss of his mum.

[Forcedme]

Yep, it came down to the execution, or more specifically, the dialogue. Too trite and sacharine. The reason many of the previous Final Fantasy stories were well-received was because they focused more on plot and exposition. To focus as heavily on character emotions as FFXIII did, there's a much higher standard of nuance that's required of the writers.

Yeah, I agree, and I enjoyed XIII for what it was but understand the criticisms against it. I was just comparing its narrative points against what we know so far of Ni No Kuni's.

And as an aside: I think if VII and VIII had voice actors we wouldn't be as kind to their characters, either. If Snow was just some cute little sprite waving his fist in the air while a text bubble popped beside him reading, "I WANT TO BE THE HERO!", he'd probably have been more bearable. I feel the lack of voice acting is still something to be appreciated in games, since it allows weaker writing to otherwise be overlooked. But that's just my opinion, I guess.

[Kuro]

I gotta download this totally forgot.

[DarkVincent07]

This demo was awesome. The fire/mountain level just took me by surprise. I didn't expect such awesome environments from the game. The way that the heat radiates is great, and the battle system was strange at first, but i mostly get it now and I love it.

Its cool how Oliver is noob in the first part of the demo and then in the second part he is more experienced (higher lvl duh) but has a new weapon and new clothes and acts more confident in battle.

Fantastic game and I can't wait to pick up my CE

(timed demo was annoying though, i went to go eat breakfast and it ended lol)

[Typical guy]

I'm not sure why people are surprised that this is childish nor am I sure why people are claiming that this isn't meant for kids just because it deals with more mature themes. This game, like all the Studio Ghibli movies are for kids but made for adults as well. There's a reason why many of their movies are rated with a solid G and those that aren't G are PG in the US AND they're localized in the United States by Disney.

The movies are meant to be watchable by children as well as by adults and I will have to assume this game is the same.

[Ryunosuke]

Being a fan of JRPGs, Level 5 games, Anime and Studio Ghibli films I have been looking forward to this game for while. The demo has done nothing to change that, if anything I am looking more forward to it.

It was nice to see the return of a good overworld and I really enjoy the visual/art style of the game. I wish more developers would take this approach. They don't need to spend so much money on trying to achieve or outdo others with realistic graphics/visuals. A nice visual/art style can have just as big (if not bigger) impact.

I feel this is something that has been holding SE back as of late. They seem more focused (too much so) on creating realistic graphics/visuals and creating a cinematic feel that they start to lose sight of what consumers are looking for in JRPGs(at least imo). This is one of the reasons I feel they have been really outdone this generation by other companies in the JRPG genre.