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Ni No Kuni Collector's Edition for EU/NA [failure level well beyond critical mass]

Lucent

Member
Is the cover art supposed to be different for the normal edition vs the wizard edition? I'm not sure I'll be able to wait until my Wizard Edition arrives to play the game.

So you've really got no backlog at all that you could be working on until it comes out? =P

But yeah I see what you're saying. If the packaging is the same you could buy gamestop's now and play it day one instead of waiting for the shipment. I would think it's the same cover art and that it's just the standard game thrown into a box of other stuff.
 

Cheska

Member
So you've really got no backlog at all that you could be working on until it comes out? =P

But yeah I see what you're saying. If the packaging is the same you could buy gamestop's now and play it day one instead of waiting for the shipment. I would think it's the same cover art and that it's just the standard game thrown into a box of other stuff.

Oh I have plenty of games in my backlog but I'm super impatient and I know I'll have a hard time playing something else when all I want to do is play this.
 
Why so few reviews? It seems we keep getting up to date stuff on DMC, but this is only a week later than that.

So...

RPGLand 10
PSN Lifestyle 10
Gamepro Germany 93%
Game Informer 7

Is that ALL we have so far?
 

Chairhome

Member
You should play the demo, watch the offical Youtube videos and judge for yourself.
Yeah, I haven't had time to play the demo. My backlog is gigantic though, so that's another reason I'm putting this off. My interest will probably pick back up next week, haha. I think the review plus looking at how many games I need to finish up put me off for now...
Where is the review?
Its in the mag.
I THINK they wizened up, but it does vary from reviewer to reviewer.

By the way, who reviewed it? Assuming it's not online anyway.
Reviewer was Kimberley Wallace. Praises the visuals and sound, doesn't think the characters have enough depth, thinks partner AI is sub-par, and the gameplay has a learning curve.

I think I have to do more research myself. I'll be reminded of what drew me in when I start watching vids again.
 

Eusis

Member
Reviewer was Kimberley Wallace. Praises the visuals and sound, doesn't think the characters have enough depth, thinks partner AI is sub-par, and the gameplay has a learning curve.
That does leave more hesitant over the game, I kind of figure this will be Level 5 as usual: looks amazing, but may be kind of weak with gameplay and have that certain Level 5(/Akihiro Hino?) feel to it that sort of gets to me, and trying the demo at last does seem to confirm that, though perhaps better than prior games.

Actually, it feels a lot to me like a second rate 16-bit RPG, not necessarily BAD, but I feel if JRPGs brought their A game to consoles this generation it probably wouldn't have been as appealing or as anticipated. Well, and if some of the biggest ones didn't decide to go hardcore linear (looking at FFXIII!), it really does have a nice looking overworld.
 

Sn4ke_911

If I ever post something in Japanese which I don't understand, please BAN me.
Why so few reviews? It seems we keep getting up to date stuff on DMC, but this is only a week later than that.

So...

RPGLand 10
PSN Lifestyle 10
Gamepro Germany 93%
Game Informer 7

Is that ALL we have so far?

Wtf, a 7 from GI? what did they say went wrong with this game?
 

Lucent

Member
Game Informer also gave Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door a 6.75; I wouldn't be overly concerned.

Hah true. Some sites give crazy low scores for games I loved. Think IGN gave Godhand a crap review and I loved that game. So whatever with the reviews.
 
The game looks so interesting, but that battle system just isn't grabbing me. Never been a fan of Pokemon-style battles where creatures do your fighting.
 

Eusis

Member
Hah true. Some sites give crazy low scores for games I loved. Think IGN gave Godhand a crap review and I loved that game. So whatever with the reviews.
The reviewer in this case does have a history with RPG reviewing though, coming from RPGFan, though I'd still have to read the review. And even with Game Informer saying 7 is "average" it's not really a bad score, but combined with the demo it does tell me I may want to wait a bit given the bounty of titles we're getting on the JRPG front, it really does feel like something I'd have fun with for awhile but end up leaving on the wayside, and not really having a sense it's really WORTH committing to further beyond beating it.
The game looks so interesting, but that battle system just isn't grabbing me. Never been a fan of Pokemon-style battles where creatures do your fighting.
Personally I'm not too fond of the way the real time battle system works, it really does feel like an example of going real time because turn based is "archaic", but I end up just wanting the damn game to stop so I can make orders more efficiently. Absolutely hate browsing menus or similar experiences in real time.

Amusingly though, when playing as the main character this actually kind of makes me think of Quest 64 done right.
 

Aeana

Member
The "real time" aspect of the battles makes the guard system work, which I think is pretty cool.
You can contrast it directly with the DS version, which tries to implement the same system in a turn-based framework, and I don't think it's as interesting.
 

Eusis

Member
Hmm, maybe it's something that'd gel with me more after more time with it, demos are notoriously bad for JRPGs unless they're longer length ones, and this definitely wasn't.

And ultimately I AM waiting to see how people are reacting too.
 

JebusF

Neo Member
Why so few reviews? It seems we keep getting up to date stuff on DMC, but this is only a week later than that.

So...

RPGLand 10
PSN Lifestyle 10
Gamepro Germany 93%
Game Informer 7

Is that ALL we have so far?

Well, the European Embargo doesn't lift until next week... and it's been delayed until February 1st here too.
 

Yagharek

Member
The "real time" aspect of the battles makes the guard system work, which I think is pretty cool.
You can contrast it directly with the DS version, which tries to implement the same system in a turn-based framework, and I don't think it's as interesting.

So generally the ps3 game is the main one of the pair, from a narrative perspective? What are non Japanese readers missing out on with the ds version remaining untranslated?
 

Aeana

Member
I'm not going to be able to play my copy of the Wizard's edition. I'd be glad to sell it to someone on here for cost.

If there is anyone from NC who wants it they get first dibs. :)
 

Eusis

Member
As I recall graphic adventures and those falling under that umbrella roughly were covered half because of how the genre was practically dead and needed any attention they could get (though with The Walking Dead winning Spike's VGA I guess that isn't as strong as it was a decade ago), half because they could be largely story focused games that people who play RPGs for story would probably enjoy.

And I'm sure lists like that are from a "what we cover" standpoint more than seriously considering it an RPG.
 

Aeana

Member
As I recall graphic adventures and those falling under that umbrella roughly were covered half because of how the genre was practically dead and needed any attention they could get (though with The Walking Dead winning Spike's VGA I guess that isn't as strong as it was a decade ago), half because they could be largely story focused games that people who play RPGs for story would probably enjoy.

And I'm sure lists like that are from a "what we cover" standpoint more than seriously considering it an RPG.
But the list is called top RPGs from the last decade.
 

Eusis

Member
I was going to point out that was a personal top 10, but I refreshed my memory and saw Ever 17 at number 18 on the grand list.

I think I'm just going to back off that topic.
Alas, poor Brian.
Seriously though, my vague recollections of Quest 64 are

- Roaming 3D areas with a non-fixed 3rd person camera
- Real time battles that focused on spell casting over hack & slash (only applicable with the main character and some of the familiars)
- Main character even dresses kind of similarly at least in the second part of the demo.

That's all very loose with only the second point holding any real substance, but it's an impression I can't shake.
 

graywolf323

Gold Member
To be fair, Kim is an old RPGFan editor. She mostly covers JRPG's and a lot of other Japanese titles for GI. Here's a list of her top 10 games over the last decade

http://www.rpgfan.com/features/Top_20_RPGs_of_the_Last_Decade/kim.html

That should give you a good idea of what her tastes are like when it comes to JRPG's.

that's actually a really solid top 10, can't really complain about any of those games being on it (besides the whole Phoenix Wright isn't really an RPG part)

I'm not going to be able to play my copy of the Wizard's edition. I'd be glad to sell it to someone on here for cost.

If there is anyone from NC who wants it they get first dibs. :)

sent you a PM ^_^
 

Pyrokai

Member
I ordered the collector's edition but I'm slightly concerned I won't be getting it lol. I ordered so long and I remember the confirmation email being a little wonky, lol. They are charging us when they ship it, right?

Edit: Looks like it's still okay. Can't wait!

Back to playing DQ8 for he first time! I'm about 32 hours in.
Just got the ship last night!
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
can you have multiple characters fighting for you, or are they one at a time and you can switch them around like pokemon?
 

Eusis

Member
can you have multiple characters fighting for you, or are they one at a time and you can switch them around like pokemon?
Seems like only one at a time, though you yourself can jump into the brawl instead. I'm thinking that depending on how your spell list works you may want to have physical oriented familiars complimenting your magic oriented lead, though it may be that they have unique advantages magical or not to be worth using instead.
 

Yaska

Member
Seems reviews are starting to pour in, Game Informer scored the game 7 (sorry was mentioned already) and OPM scored 9/10.

Not long anymore!
 
Why so few reviews? It seems we keep getting up to date stuff on DMC, but this is only a week later than that.

So...

RPGLand 10
PSN Lifestyle 10
Gamepro Germany 93%
Game Informer 7

Is that ALL we have so far?

Official Playstation Magazine Benelux - 87%

What does the game do wrong that could possible justify a mere 7? I guess we'll find out; I'm eager to read what GI's criticisms are.
 

Yaska

Member
Official Playstation Magazine Benelux - 87%

What does the game do wrong that could possible justify a mere 7? I guess we'll find out; I'm eager to read what GI's criticisms are.

I'll just post the snippet on their bulletin points ( I'm allowed to do that right?)
Game Informer said:
Entertainment
The world keeps you entranced. Unfortunately the characters and the old-school RPG mechanics don't have the same charm

So basically the reviewer didn't like punishing death system, characters ( all but drippy were bland according to her) and story because characters and story aren't on par with the allure of the world. Also the AI is sub-par and the rare save points is a bad thing.

Personally tho the way I read it that the reviewer liked the game rather than hated, with the exception of some frustrating parts, so 7 seems odd score :/.
 

Chairhome

Member
I'll just post the snippet on their bulletin points ( I'm allowed to do that right?)


So basically the reviewer didn't like punishing death system, characters ( all but drippy were bland according to her) and story because characters and story aren't on par with the allure of the world. Also the AI is sub-par and the rare save points is a bad thing.

Personally tho the way I read it that the reviewer liked the game rather than hated, with the exception of some frustrating parts, so 7 seems odd score :/.

To be fair, 7 is a good score. Just not as high as one would hope.
 
I'll just post the snippet on their bulletin points ( I'm allowed to do that right?)


So basically the reviewer didn't like punishing death system, characters ( all but drippy were bland according to her) and story because characters and story aren't on par with the allure of the world. Also the AI is sub-par and the rare save points is a bad thing.

Personally tho the way I read it that the reviewer liked the game rather than hated, with the exception of some frustrating parts, so 7 seems odd score :/.

Thanks a lot for that; it does shed some light on things. Rare save points seems like a legit issue, but in terms on the cast complaints, it does amuse me a little after just reading this summary of the Benelux review on Metacritic...

Whereas characters in western RPG's tend to nag more than the average math teacher, the inhabitants of the beautiful world that is Ni no Kuni tend to have an intelligent sense of humour, rarely seen in games.
 

Beren

Member
can you have multiple characters fighting for you, or are they one at a time and you can switch them around like pokemon?
From what i have seen you can have up to 3 characters and each of those has 3 pokemons thingyes. You can swap between all 3 characters and their pokemons on the fly, and the other two will fight ala FFXII , they even have that behavior AI table thing :)
 
Are people interested in these reviews because they're starved for any information on Kuni? Or do they generally want to know if they should be spending their hard earned money on Kuni at all?

Personally, I could care less about all of the reviews. This is a console JRPG and I enjoyed the demo. Done deal, purchase confirmed. The Wizard Edition is just icing on the cake for me.
 
Kagari played the JPN version and said it was good. I trust her.

Yeah, I trust her too along with Aeana. I'd take a GAFer recommendation over published reviews any day. Way back when I lurked, I'd easily follow any of Dragona's, Ethelred's or Red Scarlet's recommendations.
 

Lucent

Member
The reviewer in this case does have a history with RPG reviewing though, coming from RPGFan, though I'd still have to read the review. And even with Game Informer saying 7 is "average" it's not really a bad score, but combined with the demo it does tell me I may want to wait a bit given the bounty of titles we're getting on the JRPG front, it really does feel like something I'd have fun with for awhile but end up leaving on the wayside, and not really having a sense it's really WORTH committing to further beyond beating it.

Really? I didn't know we were getting anything new this year besides maybe Tales of Xillia.
 

Peagles

Member
Has anyone ordered the US Wizard's edition but doesn't want it any more? I'm in NZ and probably going to order a UK one but the US one has the extra stuff I really want. Still no sign of any Wizard's Edition here and apparently we're only getting one shipment of the normal game too.

I have a US address too if that helps!
 

Reveirg

Member
Really? I didn't know we were getting anything new this year besides maybe Tales of Xillia.

Ni No Kuni, Tales of Xillia, Lightning Returns: FFXIII, FFXIV: A Realm Reborn, Soul Sacrifice, Kingdom Hearts 1.5 Remix, Shin Megami Tensei: Soul Hackers, Dragon's Crown, Etrian Odyssey IV, Fire Emblem 3DS.

Lower-tier games: The Witch and the Hundred Knights, Black Rock Shooter, Tokitowa.

AND we might even get: Shin Megami Tensei IV, Ys: Sea of Celceta, etc.

And I might be forgetting some!
 
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