Ben-DutkaNi no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch is already one of the most beloved games of the generation. And we're sure you wanna play it, right?
There seems to be a definite shortage in various territories around the world, which has been the subject of much moaning among the hardcore JRPG aficionados. However, although we can't help you with a physical copy (sorry 'bout that), we can save you the cost of purchasing the game digitally.
We've got one download code for the full game, and we'll give it away to the person who can best express why they want Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch. This should be in the form of a simple editorial, which can be of any length and in any style, provided it's well written and well constructed. You have until 12:00 p.m. EST, Sunday, February 10 to submit your editorial to me at-
bdutka[at]psxextreme.com
The winner will receive the code to nab the game and their "Why I want…" piece will be published as a guest editorial here at PSXE. Just bear in mind that this code will only work on North American PS3s , although there is no age restriction for this contest.
Related Game(s): Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
I'm not the typical jrpg player. I always think the game may be too tedious. The thing is, I've tried two rpgs: FF10 & Pokemon ( I forgot which versions) and i love them. I really enjoyed Pokemon and I see that Ni no Kuni has some similar elements, as mentioned in the review and by others.
The unfamiliar genre of jrpgs has me hesitant to get it right away but i'm really intrigued on what i'm hearing about it and i'll be forever thankful if i won the code.
oh p.s. Not to sound too melancholy but i'm home out sick from work long term due to a heart condition so i have a lot of time to be fully invested in a jrpg.
There's serendipity for ya, Ni No Kuni includes a charming little element where you go around fixing people who have become "brokenhearted" by the wizard Shadar by sharing virtues of the heart between people 🙂
I've played FF X and it's one of my fave JRPGs too. I think you will enjoy Ni no Kuni just as much. I suggest that you try joining this competition and you might just win it. 🙂 I personally cannot stop playing it. The fact that I'll be away from my PS3 for a few days to take a vacation makes it rather bittersweet. LOL
Thanks ZettaiSeigi. I just submitted my entry. *fingers crossed*! I actually liked Pokemon on the gameboy so much that i'd be tempted to get a Wii U if it was made for that system.
I'm getting FFX HD as soon as it's released (whenever that may be) I'm kind of apprehensive on buying the Final Fantasy that was released on the ps3 and 360 because i heard mixed reviews
If you enjoyed FFX then you probably wouldn't care much for FFXIII.
clockwyzebkny
Wow, You're awfully young to have heart problems, so I hope you have a total recovery & a full, healthy life.
Thanks Biker Saint I'm trying to get back on track. My father died young from a heart attack (31) and appeared healthy prior to the attack. So i'm trying to eat better and and exercise a little bit ( I cant do too much)
Completely overlooked your heart condition, clockwyzebkny. I do hope you make a full recovery too!
I deserve it so I can have both a hard copy and digital copy because the game should be a part of every possible collection.
LMAO. Give those on the fence a chance, mun. I think they deserve to be swayed more by this competition than we do. 😉
Last edited by ZettaiSeigi on 2/6/2013 10:54:53 PM
yeah I won't actually enter, only fair to spread the love en't it?
Indeed World. More people need to play and experience Ni no Kuni. I hope it trumps FF XIII sales-wise. Ha!
This is a really good idea for a contest, I hope you do more of them.
Why I want Ni No Kuni? It's because it has a special critically acclaimed ingredient that is Studio Ghibli that added a fresh new taste into an old age recipe of JRPG's that is put together by a master chef called Level-5 and topped it with a garnish of beautiful music and the familiar smell of a heart warming story that makes you want to taste it as soon as possible. And the sad part for me is that I still need to wait for my turn. I'm hungry. Hahaha.
My reason to play is to tell Ben it actually has amazing writing and dialogue that stands tall aside Tolstoy's most valued works. Studio Gibli and Tolstoy are like PB&J, sucka's.
lol, well it doesn't have that but does do very well with what it is supposed to be doing: telling an innocent fable.
I can assure you you wont get it now 😛
I am now 32 hours in and cant get enough of it. It is like a combination of Dragonquest 8, little bit of Eternal Sonata, and Pokemon.
The story is actually much darker than people think. In fact without spoiling the game, it takes a pretty dark turn later on.
All that and despite its charming cute aesthetic there is a challenging game here. Your not healed after every fight *cough* ff13*cough* and you are penalized for dying.
This is easily in my top JRPGs of all time honestly. It does a bit too much handholding for some of the side quests but some of them are pretty fun and totally different than I have seen in a JRPG.
Like the quests that are riddles and require you to look through the wizards companion, and decode an ancient language using the language translator at the back took me a while. I had to get a scratch pad to do the quest right, which was super awesome in my books 😛
I hope you get it Temjin, one way or another I think youll like it.
Heh…a game doesn't have to be Tolstoy-esque to impress me from a storyline standpoint, Temjin. 😉
It just has to be better than what I find to be amateur-ish Ni no Kuni.
Last edited by Ben Dutka PSXE on 2/7/2013 11:26:09 AM
heh, yah, ben i'm just being a dork =p
Thanks Xenris and World. I'm really looking forward to the game as well. I'm fairly convinced the game is the best all around jrpg by a mile on PS3, as many sustain it to be, critics and users alike. When I watched video reviews I saw many things that just screamed awesome. It looks very nice artistically. The combat looks great and the story sounds promising. As for the dialogue arguments… well, FFVII has some pretty lame dialogue if you ask me, in fact it was criticized for poorer than expected localization at it's time, and that didn't stop me from liking it, liking it even 2 years ago 😉 Timeless right?
Also to be clear, it doesn't force you to walk through what was seemingly a 20 hour hallway, right?
Last edited by Temjin001 on 2/7/2013 11:47:55 AM
I agree, FF7 and FF8 had some painful dialogue to deal with. Emo angsty and all that. I just never jived with that and always liked the care free out going optimist characters like Zell Zidane zack etc.
Anyway this game isn't a 20 hour corridor. I mean you can play it like that and just go from place to place and just do the story but the world map makes it feel much more open than say FF13.
However if you do the side quests most of which are really fun and not fetch questy feeling the game feels very non linear, despite JRPGs being mostly linear in nature.
If you played Dragon Quest 8 it is very close to that game in terms of openness, side quests, and mini games. Like Ni No kuni has a coliseum and a casino 🙂
Yeah there's no 20 hours corridor here, it still has openness early on but you have much to learn as a wizard so it does a certain amount of teaching and hand-holding for a time. That doesn't take away from the game like it did in FFXIII though.
I already have the game digitally on my PS3 so I won't be entering, either. However, kudos to Ben Dutka for giving someone the opportunity to play Ni No Kuni. I never see Jeremy Parish give anything away LOL.
For the record, I haven't played the game yet as I want to finish Tales Of Graces F first. I can take my sweet time as the releases I want to buy in the first 6 months are limited: Sly Cooper: Thieves In Time (bought), MLB '13, Bioshock: Infinite and The Last Of Us.
I'm also pulling for clockwyzebkny to win.
Will i buy this game, Nope! Why? Scared! Yep I The Real Deal am cautious these days when it comes to JRPG's. Cautious? Very Cautious! Why? Been burnt to many times over the years, Final Fantasy Anyone? The genre that started my passion for gaming was…. JRPG's.
A fascinating world of intrigue and secrets, count me in. A world full of button mashing, Grind'em up, baby stories; i am out. If Ni no Kuni lives up to the old school standard of JRPG's then i would love to try it. If however it doesn't; then give it to someone that will purchase Final Fantasy XII-3 on launch day.
Thanks for the opportunity and may the best gamer win.
The gameplay and setting and overall feel lives up but it's no place to be looking for a lot of intrigue and character development.
Gameplay alone Real Deal, is enough to warrant playing this. Some of the side quests are super inventive and just plain great. Some have you using clues to find lost diaries, others have you decoding ancient text from your wizard companion, and others you learn interesting stories about the locals in the city your visiting.
As for the story. It is not really as childish as people think. In fact within the first 40 minutes something tragic happens. And it seems to have dark themes scattered through the game.
But gameplay wise its well worth it, even if you hated the story and dialogue the graphics, the world, and the gameplay are top notch.
The Real Deal: One thing to consider- This plays NOTHING like the old-school JRPGs you seem to love. This is the part people continually gloss over. It's real-time with the chance to pause combat, which is hardly anything special and certainly isn't traditional or old-fashioned (I could do that in Dishonored).
Furthermore, you have to reconcile yourself to the fact that the characters you use and the creatures you control, and even the enemies you fight, are going to be very Pokemon-y. I know nobody seems to care and you'll get yelled at if you say you don't like to control cutesy little bouncing animals, but you used the word "baby" in your post (even though it was in relation to the story), so I think this should be mentioned.
Nah, it's very reminiscent of old school JRPG battles but with a real time twist that isn't a contrived contradiction. Basically it has the soul and feel intact but uses the modern technology to evolve the old ways and bring them in step with time. Once you know what you're doing you'll be bouncing from character to character to monsters to spells to special attacks in a smooth and natural way. If you try to play it like it's just turn based you'll be disappointed though.
It isn't reminiscent of anything, World, and you know it. Just because it has Japanese styling and there's a separate battle screen? Is there ANY other part of the combat that's anything like a Final Fantasy, Suikoden, Legend of Dragoon, or Shadow Hearts?
It isn't turn-based. It's a real-time mechanic that operates almost no differently than what we see in Dragon Age, only with the addition of familiars.
I would say it feels like a final fantasy that uses an ATB system, only that you have control to move your character around, which adds the depth of dodging linear enemy attacks without having to use the defend function. It is however nothing like a turn based game where you have time to think.
In saying that I would say it is an evolution of Active time battle system RPGs, it feels like what you would get if you took FF7s ATB system and then let yourself run around with cloud when you got into battles, and you could actively dodge linear attacks, but AoEs and specials would still hit you.
It does feel like a JRPG to me more than a CRPG like Dragon age though, and that is coming from someone who played all the baldurs gate games, old interplay games and most of the old final fantasy games.
Unfortunately, xenris, it's just a fallacy to say that this is an "evolution." It's actually nothing new; we've seen similar if not identical combat mechanics in other RPGs throughout this generation. Like I said, it isn't much different than Dragon Age if you really think about it.
People calling this an "evolution" in terms of battle apparently haven't played any RPGs this generation. The evolution seen in Ni no Kuni was done years ago. It just wasn't seen as much in Japanese RPGs, which is why I think people are falling prey to the concept.
"Evolution" implies new. In terms of combat, Ni no Kuni does absolutely nothing I haven't seen before.
Yes, definitely feels like an ATB with on-field movement. It isn't about doing anything brand new, it's about the hierarchical ordering of familiar gameplay elements. No it's not like Dragon Age because you aren't pressing face buttons to execute actions or holding buttons to bring up options, you are instead navigating various and varied standardized menus for each person and monster while also including your field placement in your strategic thought. The evolution is in the inclusion of real time without losing the focus on menus as other hybrids like star ocean and eternal sonata did. NNK does this without falling into the FFXIII trap of automating everything and removing management.
I agree it does share elements of Dragon Age for sure. I just feel like it has elements of both ATB JRPG systems and CRPG systems.
It feels like a blending to me.
I guess it isn't really new but it is new for JRPGs your right, which is why I said it feels like an evolution of the JRPG genre. I mean you consider Star Ocean, and Eternal sonata JRPGs right? Those have far more action based combat than Ni No Kuni and yet retain some of the management and depth you expect from JRPG combat.
I just don't feel as many similarities with CRPGs as I do with JRPGs with the combat, and I promise you I played DA:O for over 70 hours, as well as all the old CRPGs on my computer.
Definitely not going to say there aren't similarities, but I see the similarities to the ATB system of FF7 as well but, with you being able to fully control your heroes on the map instead of being stuck in a line.
I think the point World makes is valid is well. About the inclusion of the menu, it isn't straight action feeling like Star Ocean and Eternal Sonata were, but it doesn't have MMO like feeling that Dragon Age did.
I think instead of evolution we could call a marriage? It is a marriage of JRPG systems coupled with CRPG elements.
I also wouldnt say anyone is falling prey to the concept. The combat is really well executed, and while it isn't for people who prefer slower turn based systems, for people who can handle the pacing and the "chaos" it is well executed.
Last edited by xenris on 2/7/2013 7:04:30 PM
Dragon Age is an RPG through and through, and I don't recall jamming on face buttons to do anything at all. And just because you bring up a menu by holding down a button rather than pressing a button is hardly any sort of difference.
And xenris, no, I don't see how Star Ocean or Eternal Sonata or any more action-oriented. They're just about the same, which is my point. What is Ni no Kuni doing that hasn't already been done in games like Star Ocean?
Well I played DA:O on the PC so I didn't have to mash any face buttons 😛 but the combat on the PC felt more like an MMOs combat, only you could pause.
As for what does it do differently from star ocean. Star ocean was a button masher. While they remedied some of that in The last hope, SO 1, 2 and 3 you could button mash and some moves had invincible frames like side kick in SO3 and you could spam attacks without much thought, I know I did it and it made the game a breeze. So it felt like an action game more than a menu based JRPG. Eternal sonata was the same way you were limited to a timer but essentially you would just mash as much as you could to get in as many attacks as you could before your heroes timer gauge dropped. Both games the skills and attacks were mapped to face buttons, in NNK you are required to go through a menu, which is something you had to do in traditional JRPGs only now you have to juggle that with moving around your characters. Because you can't pause the game then select your skill, you have to select the skill in the heat of combat then, it pauses for you to select your enemy(if it is a skill)
What Ni No Kuni does, is make you commit to your choices. While you can go in for an attack mashing wont really help you or speed things up. Especially later on when defending in order to get gold orbs is crucial. Each monster has an attack pattern and attack speed that you can't speed up through button presses. However some of the strategy comes from getting close to an enemy before attacking it so that while you are in the attacking mode, you get more hits in. Likewise you have to cancel and then manually select defend if you see a special coming your way. Which is slower and delayed, causing you to think a little more than just mashing. Not to mention there are a lot of un-dodgable specials. From my recollection of SO3 you could dodge most of the bosses moves from running to the edge of the arena. Ni No kuni forces you to use the dodge an evade command if you want to survive the harder bosses, and get those gold orbs that let you dish out your specials.
Also I'm not really arguing here, I DO see the similarities you mentioned towards Dragon Age, and other games, I am just taking the stance that at the end of the day it feels like something new and unique because of the combination of things it does with the combat, even if the parts in that combination are a mixture of DAO, Star Ocean, Dragon Quest 8 and Pokemon 🙂
PS Not ripping on Star Ocean or Eternal Sonata, Eternal Sonata in particular is one of my favourite JRPGs this gen, and Star Ocean three was one of my favs last gen 🙂
Last edited by xenris on 2/8/2013 9:50:30 AM
Just as a reminder, only the "Why I Want To…" pieces that are sent to me will be considered. It doesn't count if you just post it here in the Comments. 🙂
Because I am a cheap bastard and otherwise wont buy it.
Just curious is the previous sentence considered long enough for an editorial?
Well i keep getting that 505 error so i can't submit it. I can't even give myself an avatar 🙁 World, 10/10 for your avatar.
There's no 505 error if you just email me at the address provided in the article.
Thanks, I get that evil thing every time I upload an avatar but after 300 times and about 4 hours it gets through anyway. It won't accept your avatar unless it is within the itty bitty 80×80 limit. This site is falling apart.
Last edited by WorldEndsWithMe on 2/7/2013 3:08:42 PM
I have tried…and tried…and tried, to get into JRPGs in the past.
None of them really hooked me early enough on in the gameplay to warrant the grinding that was neccessary to get the best items.
I have actually never finished a JRPG…Maybe Ni No Kuni would be the one that changes my mind? 🙂
Same here, unless they were more like the Deus Ex or Fallout type of RPG.
So in fairness to the serious RPG folks, I'll abstain from asking so that others who can appreciate & savor it much more than I probably would, can win it.
"Good luck to all"
Last edited by BikerSaint on 2/7/2013 2:31:15 PM
Which did you try?
World,
Granted I loved the graphics & storylines of RPG's, especially the SquareSoft & $E FF titles.
But I just hated doing anything like turn-based stuff, & or using swords & magic combos in my game play.
Now granted, I haven't played almost all of these in a long while, so I may be wrong about a few of these below being RPG's.
But off the top of my head, here goes…….
FF7, FF Tactics, FF Dirge of Cerberus, FFX, FF X-2, FFXI, FFXII, & FF XIII
Also….
Ogre battle, Ogre Tactics, Breath Of Fire,
Grandsteam Saga,
Saga Frontier,
Tales Of Destiny,
Carnage Heart,
& Elemental Gearbolt.
I've started each & every one, most more than once hoping to grow into the RPG, but once I get to the very first turn-based and/or swords & magic battles, I've had quite enough & have to quit them.
I'm not sure what to call the RPG's I do like to play though, such as Fallout, Deus Ex, Borderlands, Mass Effect, etc, etc. Maybe more of a Action-y RPG, or hybrid'ed RPG, or a "RPG elements added in" type of player????????
Hell, now that I think about it, all I want to know now is what kind of ______ RPG player can I be truly classified as???????
Sorry World, didn't see your reply.
I have tried Legend of Dragoon and a few of the older FF games.
I did play Double Fine's Costume Quest which is sort of in the same vein of JRPGs, and I was surprised that I liked it.