Game

[Borys]

`

[archnemesis]

It's an average RPG. It may have excellent production values, but many of the game mechanics aren't well thought through.

• Both your playable characters and the familiars have skills.
• Weapons are visible equipment although you don't change it very often. You will also change costumes when you visit new areas.

[magus]

i hated it? that's new to me... all i said was that

It's an average RPG. It may have excellent production values, but many of the game mechanics aren't well thought through.

goddamit archnemesis you are like my twisted double!

[archnemesis]

Only when it comes to weeaboo games. I also play plenty of other genres. Right now, I'm shooting Nazis in one of my favorite turn-based tactical games. Yesterday, I was playing Kirby's Adventure and Kingdom Rush.

[archnemesis]

I meant skills like weapon skills and stuffs. Advancing them like in DQ games - picking where to put skill points etc. In here there is no such thing I think. Familiars get predefined skills at predefined levels.

I never bothered using them, but there are items which you can use to give specific skills to familiars.

What do you mean equpiment changes are visible? I equipped my Fighter Familiar with 3 different swords and they all look the same like the stock one he has from the beginning.

Yep, those are static. Oliver's weapon and costume will change though.

[magus]

That's good that you liked it magus. Did you 1000'd it?

nah,the 1000 is a super chore there is an achievement that involve catching 200 monster's,evolution count so every monster you get count per 3 if you take it from the basic form and fully evolve it but it still involve basicaly catching 80% of all the mon's avaiable in the game...

later in the game you also get an alchemy system,another achievement ask you to create 95% of all the items and some items require things that drop with 2% chance out of super rare monster and shit like that (at least there is a way to "cheat" the drop)

i might go back to it later though

I meant skills like weapon skills and stuffs. Advancing them like in DQ games - picking where to put skill points etc. In here there is no such thing I think. Familiars get predefined skills at predefined levels.

monster come in 3 rank,they go from rank 1 to rank 2 and then from rank 2 to one of the two avaiable rank 3 and the two different rank 3 learn different moves although most of the time it's just "this one learn fire move and hate ice,this one learns ice move and hate fire" that's basicaly all the customization you are going to get

[demi]

Er, I never hated it either. The battle system is just a huge ZIT on what was actually a decent game.

[chronovore]

Level 5 have earned their shit reputation in Japan.

Isn't their stuff still selling like crazy though?

I mean, other than this Ni No Kuni thing. Like Inazuma and such still seem huge down in my area.

[Mr. Gundam]

Hey man, I helped L5's cause.

I bought the Gundam AGE PSP game at full price on release.

I've never played it.

[magus]

Level 5 have earned their shit reputation in Japan.

Isn't their stuff still selling like crazy though?

I mean, other than this Ni No Kuni thing. Like Inazuma and such still seem huge down in my area.

Each new installment of their big series has been selling worse than the last for the last few years, and pretty much none of their new IPs have really gotten much traction.

it's pretty sad seeing level 5 trying to take a stab at the pokemon cake with games like ni no kuni and youkai watch without any result,then nintendo comes farts another 150 mon and it sells a gazillion of copies with minimal amount of fuck given

EDIT: on second tought i guess they did got a piece of that cake with inazuma eleven and it was pretty bad so maybe it's better this way

[archnemesis]

I liked Professor Layton and Inazuma Eleven, but the sequels are too many and they feel uninspired. Fantasy Life sounds great though and I'll definitely grab it when it makes it to the west.

[magus]

inazuma eleven is a boring piece of shit and it deserves all the bombing it can get,layton was really cool at first but i kinda got tired by the fourth one rolled out... also the stories have turned out incredibly boring since they decided the game needed a villain,here's the plot twist,it was the villain with a giant robot,it's always him with a giant robot

i still sort of want to play the 5th one on 3DS though

[archnemesis]

I love the gameplay in Inazuma Eleven, but the story and RPG mechanics are horrible. They should just outsource the engine to a more competent developer.

[magus]

it's pretty sad seeing level 5 trying to take a stab at the pokemon cake with games like ni no kuni and youkai watch without any result,then nintendo comes farts another 150 mon and it sells a gazillion of copies with minimal amount of fuck given

EDIT: on second tought i guess they did got a piece of that cake with inazuma eleven and it was pretty bad so maybe it's better this way

look, and take this for what it is because i'm not even remotely a pokemon fan, but the worst pokemon mainline game is leagues more competent than every rpg level 5 has made. 

"minimal amount of fuck given" describes pokemon very well, but it also describes level 5's battle plan.  they make beautiful engines, and then jam some horribly planned mechanics into them along with a story penned by hino, and if they happen to hit, they'll crank new ones out every single year, sometimes two per year.  all hino wants is to hit it big for merch and licensing.  layton and inazuma eleven pretty clearly lay out their intentions, and stuff like ni no kuni and gundam age only highlight it.  their stuff is calculated pap, and it's caught up to them. 

which is probably why they're shaking up the business plan a little of late, planning to shift focus to smartphones and shit.

p.s. fantasy life is pretty good, but that's because level 5 barely touched it.  that game was made by brownie brown and h.a.n.d.

they have announced three cellphone game recently one of them is a borish fantasy game,there is one with train station and one of them  has a pretty hilarious trailer

[Himu]

The only level 5 games I like are Dark Cloud and Layton. DQ too if you count that.

I'm surprised Borys is actually playing a non-SE jrpg. Baby steps, I guess.

[demi]

I thought so too, Borys.

Keep playing and soak up that amazing AI

[magus]

when the game ask you what monster you want,pick the honky tonky,you need it for a later quest and otherwise you have to catch it yourself and it's more annoyance and pains

[magus]

Haha wow I didn't know that and picked him yesterday.

Feels good, man.

Cannot wait to get home and play this baby little more. I am totally sucked into the world. It's so beatiful. Last time I felt this way about an jRPG was with FF12. Before that: Grandia. Ni No Kuni scratches that very specific jRPG itch very well.

you need a specific evolution of him so do not evolve him to rank 3 before the aforementioned quest otherwise you risk picking the wrong evolution

[Shaka Khan]

I bought this at $60 and stopped playing shortly after the trials. I need to go back.

[magus]

one of the next boss you are going to fight is extremely resistent to physical attack and only take decent damage from wind spell so while you still have time,try to have a decent wind monster... i used a hullaballoo from the volcano

[magus]

Ok the Pig Tank boss is making me furious. He kills me way too quickly and I cannot damage him fast enough (I have very few electricity-based attacks or magics). Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand to get there I have to do this shitty stealth section and of course there is no Save Point after it.

God damn it, need to grind for a couple of hours :'(

i told ya

try to solo it,when you defend you take almost no damage and i've lost count of the times where paying attention to the battle and defending and healing properly made a much bigger difference than paying attention to your braindead companions and trying to fight as a party

also you should start stealing from bosses,the tank has just a shitty weapon that you can buy from the hamelin store but after the tank the boss are going to start carrying sweet loot

[magus]

Can you guys tell me what does ALL-OUT ATTACK and ALL-OUT DEFENSE mean and do? It would be useful if AOD would actually mean that all of Party members use the "Defend" command, no?

that's what it actualy does but there is a slight delay between you giving the command and them executing it,and of course there is a chance the monster they have out doesn't even has the ability to guard or has dodge which requires stricter timing to execute which makes it even harder to get it right considering the delay described above

the character you control also won't defend unless you manualy pick it

WELCOME TO THE SUCK BORYS!

[demi]

Hahahahaha, yep get used to soloing bosses with Oliver only

[magus]

Done with the Pig Tank. He was hard, hardest boss in the game so far. First time ever I used Phoenix Feathers and some Cheeseburgers.

The next boss - the Candle-Ghost - went down pretty easily. Did not use a single healing/ restorative item *and* had to spend first few turns stealing with Swaine.

FINALLY got the Travel spell, yay. Next step: Sky Prates! So that means.... a flying ship for me

you aren't missing much until the end,there is 5 more dungeon and 2 other town's to see, a more detailed spoilerish summary

spoiler (click to show/hide)

you go to the pirates,they give you a boss fight because you know how things work in jrpg,the pirates want to give you a dragon but he's sick so you do another one of those shitty fetch quest where you go to the real world to punch yet another evil ghost boss in the face,then you have to fly into 3 part of the world,2 of them contain a dungeon and the last one is just a boss fight,then you get all the 3 magical gem bullshit but you need to run another fetch quest to power up the wand which involve visiting the last town of the game and punching yet another evil ghost boss in the face,then there is a swamp dungeon and the "final" dungeon with the dark djinn... after you defeat the dark djinn the game pulls more plot out of his ass and you get to fight 3 more boss (including a powered up version of the tank boss) after which you get to enter the final final dungeon and kill the final final boss

there are more quest postgame and a super-duper optional boss fight but i didn't bother

[close]

[magus]

Not clicking that.

Can you tell me if I will fight the very cool looking, evil armored dudes that form the Council around the White Which?

nope

spoiler (click to show/hide)

well ok you fight one of them because he's plot relevant,you probably can guess which one

[close]

that reminds me,are you doing the dead wizard riddle's? the last spell he teach you is a tactical nuke which is amazing to spam
there is an achievement for learning all the spells so you have to do it in any case if you want the platinum

[demi]

I dont believe anything is missable.

[magus]

Yeah I will 1000 this as long as there is nothing missable (w/o a FAQ) in the first playthrough.

there is nothing missable but doing all of the item in the alchemy pot requires several copy of the ingredient on the world map and if you don't start as soon as you get the ability to fly around the world map it will become even more annoying than it already is,if you aren't totaly FAQ averse you should check this guide at least

http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps3/998014-ni-no-kuni-wrath-of-the-white-witch/faqs/66620

[magus]

Mmmm this game has Arena and Casino with mini-games.... mmmmmmmmm...

the casino is super easy to abuse,the AI for platoon is brain dead and you can rack up to 400.000 coins with a single game if you keep doubling up as much as you can

[demi]

Nevermind that the Casino rewards are absolute shit. You wont find any dope azzzzz Metal Slime King Armors here.

[demi]

Beat the Dragon (awesome fight) yet I am constantly losing to the 3rd Nightmare, ugh.

It is really useful how you jumbo metamorphose your LVL 33 Fighter to a LVL1 SuperFighter right before a hard Boss Fight. NOT.

Just use Oliver and spam Fireball and eat Cheeseburgers and Coffee.

Block when necessary, and use your super power when it sprouts (which will be very often).

Why are you trying to play the game correct? It's busted jank.

[magus]

you should be able to at least enter ice city... maybe you need to progress the plot a little further?

[demi]

You must be playing a fixed version.

Here is how boss fights go:

Swaine runs around being a moron, dies

Oliver runs around casting Fireball (replace with Mornstar when unlocked)

Esther uses all healing, casts a few spells, promptly dies

Defend when "super attack" is coming - Swaine and Esther get hit anyway

Run around like a distinguished mentally-challenged fellow trying to grab the super orbs, cast super attack

Down Cheeseburger and Coffee to replenish

[magus]

Maybe the post game/ optional bosses that magus mentioned will break me. We will see.

i got broken at the final boss (which by the way is a 30 minute affair) i switched to easy,killed it and then never spoke of the game again

You must be playing a fixed version.

Here is how boss fights go:

Swaine runs around being a moron, dies

Oliver runs around casting Fireball (replace with Mornstar when unlocked)

Esther uses all healing, casts a few spells, promptly dies

Defend when "super attack" is coming - Swaine and Esther get hit anyway

Run around like a distinguished mentally-challenged fellow trying to grab the super orbs, cast super attack

Down Cheeseburger and Coffee to replenish

a normal like isn't enough! bravo!

[Diunx]

This thread reminds me why I stop caring about JRPGs.

[Diunx]

Better than Dragozzzzzz Quest

[Himu]

Good impressions Borys. Can't wait to play.

[demi]

Nothing is missable, you should be able to go to Miasma Marshes and anywhere else.

[magus]

magus, demi - can I go back to Nevermore/ Miasma Marshes after the "ending"? Or are the enemies/ chests there totally lost after the plot moves forward?

if i remember right after the ending miasma marshes get locked for a while but you can unlock it again after solving a post game quest

did you actualy finish the game?

spoiler (click to show/hide)

there is quite a bit after the dark djinn and i'm surprised the final boss didn't give you any trouble considering how fucking annoying that fucker is

[close]

[Tasty]

the worst pokemon mainline game is leagues more competent than every rpg level 5 has made. 

Oscar real talk.

Apparently some of the Poke spinoffs are great too but I'm not into them cause I'm not a furry. 

[demi]

Lulz. Just spam Astra. I beat it by running around as Oliver

[magus]

Ok fuck the last boss (the Portal-like flying orbs). Fuck him. Annihilated me in 2 mins.

put the game on easy then ragequit the game forever like me

spoiler (click to show/hide)

or you could grind the tokoton monster which appear in the corridor before the last boss since they give truckload of experience,a single fight = 2-3 level up
bring some unevolved monster since you need to evolve a shitload of them for the achievement

[close]

[demi]

I didnt do any of that. Just spam Astra, down cheeseburgers and coffee.

[demi]

Go get Astra

[magus]

Don't have the Astra spell yet - only Evenstar and Mornstar. My party level is 55, gotta grind that shit for a couple of hours. I have truckloads of Coffees/ Burgers but I keep getting killed *while* using them - my defense stat sucks.

i was like level 70

[SantaC]

Game gets worse further in. I had fun with it at first also, but then you start getting bored because you realize that every sidequest is the same. Yep.

[archnemesis]

Why don't you just move on to a better game? Is your OCD that bad?

[archnemesis]

Heavy Rain is awesome!

[demi]

It is very awesome

[archnemesis]

That's a lot of 0%.

[SantaC]

wait you collected all 250 familiars?

[magus]

wait you collected all 250 familiars?

you don't need all of them just around 90% and since every familiar evolve into 3 other different familiar it's more like there are 50 different familiars in the whole game

[demi]

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

[Cerveza mas fina]

Harsh Demi. But I bet that one 3% hurts more to the OCD mind.