Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom (2018)

C'est un quatre étoile mais en réalité il a un peu le gout du 3,5.

Ni no Kuni 2 est beau. Le premier jeu de la franchise était issu d'une collaboration directe avec les Studio Ghibli et si les pontes de la japanimation n'ont cette fois ci officiellement pas été mêlés au développement on reconnait quand même certains noms au générique notamment celui du compositeur Joe Hisaishi qui livre ici certaines de ses plus belles compositions (Kingsmaker Theme pour ne pas la citer). Le Charadesign est soigné et fait référence à beaucoup de projets de H. Miyazaki. On a ainsi notre lots de roi-cerfs, d'esprits de la nature mignons, de chats anthropomorphes et autres machines volantes pilotées par des pirates du ciel.

Le jeu est aussi généreux. Il est long, il propose 3 modes de jeux variés (le principal qui est un RPG en temps réel, le mode royaume qui est un jeu de gestion et le mode bataille qui est un jeu de stratégie en vue de dessus). Vous devez absolument jouer les trois modes pour pouvoir finir la trame principale même si certaines missions demeurent optionnelles.

Pourtant j'ai eu du mal à le finir. Premièrement le jeu est un JRPG tout ce qu'il y a de plus classique. Même si il est bien réalisé on se retrouve à enchainer un nombre ahurissant de combats et de quêtes Fedex ce qui peut rapidement être fatigant. Certains jeux s'en tirent bien uniquement parce qu'ils ont derrière un scénario en béton qui vous donne envie de voir la suite (Bravely Default, Xenoblade Chronicle). Ici Ni no kuni 2 fait le pari d'une histoire idéaliste et un brin enfantine. Et ce n'est pas déconnant, le jeu original était sorti sur DS et s'adressait typiquement à un public enfantin.

Sauf que le jeu est super complexe dans sa stratégie. Vous contrôlez une équipe de trois personnages, qui ont chacun une arme de courte portée (Hache/Marteau, épée ou lance) et une arme de longue portée (Arc, Pistolet ou canne magique) qui utilise votre mana. Chaque perso a 3 armes de courte portées du même type qui se recharge petit à petit et une fois arrivée à 100% peut déclencher une des 4 attaques spéciales que vous avez équipé. Vous êtes aussi accompagné par des Mousses, des petites créatures qui ont chacune un type et un sortilège. Pour l'activer vous devez appuyer sur A près d'eux lorsque leur zone s'illumine.

J'ai du mal à voir comment un jeune joueur peut gérer tout ça à la fois. On se retrouve avec un jeu qui a le cul entre deux chaises entre son extrême simplicité narrative et des contrôles qui mériteraient d'être épurés.

Typiquement un jeu qui est bon mais que je ne rejouerais pas. Je ne suis même pas sûre d'avoir envie de jouer les DLC et c'est bien dommage.

I was so glad when this was over (life too short to play boring games) The story wasn't anything new boy lose someone important. kingdom stolen. do some fantasy stuff, rebuild.happy ending. Very mundane. Side quests added more clutter. At chapter five I started questioning my life choices. I let my friend finish up those force rts mini games towards the end. Those skirmishes and the kingdome building took way too much time to do and aggravated my nerves. I think for a younger crowd they will enjoy it I think those who like these type of games (dragon quest) will also enjoy it. The water works and casino world was pretty. But I'm not inspired enough to play the first one. And will continue to avoid these game. My ADHD just has no patience for them.

2.5🌟

Loved this game. Well, not at first... Tried playing immediately after finishing the first title, but the combat style is totally different and I was mad it wasn't what I had enjoyed in the first one. About a year later I booted it back up to try again, and boy am I glad I did. This immediately jumps into the top 10 of games I've ever played, and it's my first true platinum trophy. There are so many different parts of this game that each appeal to something a little different, but I was pretty into each of them. Either way, it keeps the game from getting too stale.

I will say though that the DLC adds very little value. The Dreamer's Door is BARELY discernable from the Labyrinth, and the rest is just kind of bare minimum effort. I ultimately don't care, because it was just more of what I loved, but for others it might be a serious gripe.

11/10.

I found the world interesting at first and the characters endearing, but the dull gameplay was too much. It felt like one of those phone games where you got like 2 moves and 4 combos. The game also forces you to grind levels if you want to progress without struggling against booses or monsters. The story was cute at first, but it became, "Go to this city, free controlled leader, fight big boss, rinse and repeat". The only thing that excelled was the art style and the characters. Overall, regret putting so many hours into this one.

I was a bit worried because of the reviews I read but I really enjoyed this game! It is indeed quite different from the first Ni No Kuni, they are two very unique experiences that have just a few things in common.

I was so relieved when I got into the first battle: I did not enjoy the combat system in the first game at all, I found it tedious. Here it went more to the action RPG, with really nice animations and music to back it up.

The kingdom building aspect really makes it different and special. I feel like they really succeeded in combining the different play-styles into one really charming tale and it does make you feel like you are creating a kingdom from nothing. The skirmish battles also help to make this story more believable and I like the chibi style they went with.

The Ghibli anime scenes are obviously not there anymore but I didn't mind, I thought the graphics and animations looked really neat and the musics are quirky and befitting.

It's a really good game, just don't see it as a full sequel, see it more like something from the same universe.

Pros:

• Easy as hell main campaign (I'm a filthy casual)
• Charming visuals and music/sound
• Story is better told than NNK1
• Fast travel and navigation markers make zipping around completing side quests a breeze

Neutral:

• A ton of systems and mini-games that alternated between pulling me into the world of the game (building out the kingdom and recruiting citizens), and being blatant time suck (two- and three-part fetch and hunt quests - Evan has infinite patience, but this player doesn't)

Cons:

• Confusing controls on PS4, especially when navigating kingdom management, and accidentally going to the menu instead of the map and vice versa

The good stuff had me taking a very leisurely time completing the main quest, but the bad stuff made my desire to complete any lists or the extra dungeons evaporate after the credits rolled.

Ni No Kuni 1 was my favorite JRPG of the PS3 generation, so the major changes in this game originally put me off. Uninspired, I put the game down and forgot it about for awhile 6 hours in. I'm glad I came back to it, though! There's a lot to enjoy here even though some of my original gripes remain.

Right off the bat:

• The art style exploring the dungeons and towns looks great! Very similar to the fist game. But for the skirmishes and world map, they switched to this cutesy, big head style. I'm sure some people like it, but I'm not feeling it at all.

• I'm ambivalent on changing to a more action-focused battle system. On the one hand, random battles are over in a satisfying flash. On the other, most of the strategy feels pretty shallow and easy. Most battles involved hacking away with Roland, pause to heal, hack away, maybe an occasional spell or ranged attack, hack away, pause to heal. Repeat. I'm pretty sure there are finer points of the battle system I never had to master because you can just plow through.

• Skirmishes and town building are interesting new mechanics, but haven't other games (Dark Cloud comes to mind for town building) done this better? Not being able to wander your kingdom in full 3D was a big missed opportunity.

That said, the kingdom building hooked me once I got going with it. I found myself progressing through the story just so that I could unlock new charters to recruit. Side quests are near limitless. Mostly fetch quests, random items and monster hunts, but what do you expect? There's plenty to do, and building up the kingdom feels rewarding. I spent the majority of my time in this game on side quests. I also appreciate that the world map is littered with caves, chests and other little secrets.

Story and voice-acting are solid as well with a colorful group of lead characters. In the end, I really enjoyed this game. But other than similar sense of style and music, it's so different than the first game that they are hard to properly compare.