Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom (2018)

Had multiple recommendations to play specifically the second entrance in Ni no Kuni series. The first one felt so dull right from the start that I dropped it in just few hours into (maybe I'll give it another chance in the future though)

But jesus, who thought that little abomination Loftly that looks like mutant from The Simpsons would be a great addition to main party? I've never seen more irritating character for a long time, like it should not really exist here!

I played this for 10 hours and found it quite boring. I came back to it two months later and somehow everything just clicked for me. I too was initally turned off by the Facebook like yown building game and the pikmin like skirmishes. But in the end, having finished the game after playing 50+ hours, i can see how they help to round out the game and make it more complete. Im not saying they are fun, if i could i would have skipped on the skirmishes. But it really makes sense and i can see why they were put in the game.

This game is gorgeous and the voice acting was mostly charming. Never played the first game but i very much plan to after this.

The only thing that turned me off was the story. It doesnt stray too far from the typical jrpg plot but i found the naivete of the main character and other characters to be a turn off. The story seems to be more tailored for kids in the happily ever after variety.

The gameplay loop ie. The combat was addicting and also surpassingly deep. More than just grinding there's a lot you can do in the town building segment to make your life easier in combat. I think the systems work well together.

Its not a game for everyone but i had a good time with the game. Not easy for me to actually finish a jrpg these days so this game must be doing something right.

Ofc the story and world have nothing to do with the first game and are far below but I really enjoy the kingdom building gimmick so far. Just leveled my kingdom to tier 2 and it felt quite satisfying + it gives long term purpose to the side quests which is something lacking in most JRPG (especially Dragon Quest XI which came out around the same time).

Not the best JRPG out there but bonus points for trying a few new tricks (the strategy tablet thing is also original even if underused)

this started off freakin' wild - right off the bat NYC is nuked and we're thrust into the role of the US President bleeding out on brooklyn bridge and hallucinating a fever dream of a cat-boy prince in JRPG fantasy-land. it's a good hook! only then... it doesn't really go anywhere. we just forget about it and spend the whole game fulfilling this boy-prince's one note idealistic imperialist fantasy. which, y'know, isn't bad per se but isn't great either. this is accompanied by a spattering of different gameplay features none of which are, again, particularly great, but also none of which are too egregious; just shallow and unfocused.

the highlight for me ended up being the boy-prince's wiggling tail animation as he walked up and down stairs. it's magnificent and i really, truly savoured every staircase.