Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom, a game where a furry strives to become king of the world.

I saw this game on Steam before I took notice of its prequel, and despite buying both, because I’m weird, I decided on playing the second game first.

I was not disappointed. Hopefully you weren’t or won’t be, whatever the case may be. Surely if you’re a Studio Ghibli fan, you’ll have your own admiration here and might even agree on some points of this review.

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Gameplay

There’s so much to do in Ni no Kuni II besides just following the main storyline. In fact, I’d say it’s wise to not follow the main storyline only, as you’re missing out on a lot of items or equipment with potential as well as some extra experience points.

You’re going to need those levels, for sure.

Not only that, you’ll meet up with some interesting characters that aren’t exactly crucial to the story itself.

Battle system

I really like the battles in this game. It’s real time combat where you’ll need to move around the battlefield in order to close in on enemies or escape their attacks. Know that if you’re spam attacking, it’s really difficult to get in a dodge before an enemy hits you, and shielding yourself only works when you’re facing the enemy attacking you.

That’s right, if your back is to an enemy and you shield, it’s still going to hurt.

The bosses are quite unique and not just the storyline ones. There are those that are tainted and have a bounty on them. They’re extremely difficult to fight, so you’ll need to be at an appropriate level with enough items for healing and be on your A game.

Aside from that, you’ve got different characters to use in your team, each one usually using different main weapons and having different spells.

Not only that, but there are also higgledies at your disposal. Little natural phenomena that might change the outcome in battle if used wisely.

Build your own kingdom

This is one of the major parts of Ni no Kuni II, and you’re going to want to keep an eye on the kingdom and come back to it every so often in order to collect items from Evermore as well as the kingdom’s currency, which has a limit to how much you can receive at a given time.

In Evermore, you can collect a variety of items from your shopkeepers, upgrade your weapons and armor, learn different cuisines that’ll boost certain stats, improve your skills, create unique higgledies, and a whole lot more.

Some townsfolk will even give quests, but in order to get townsfolk, you’ll need to find them via side quests.

Mini skirmishes

I’m not a huge fan of the skirmishes with the game, honestly, but they are part of it in a way that progresses the story forward. So you don’t have to like them, but you have to deal with playing them.

When you recruit certain people to your kingdom, some of them may be able to partake in skirmishes. In order to level them up, you’ll need to partake in these skirmishes. If they don’t level up…well good luck in dealing with future skirmishes, because you’re going to lose in an exponential way.

Keep in mind when you’re out on these battlefields which enemies are weak against what and play that to your advantage.

Are there achievements?

63 achievements on Steam, awaiting your completion.

Any DLC?

Graphics

I love the graphics of Ni no Kuni II, and I also like that they don’t stick to just one style.

In the outer world you have more chibi versions of your characters and the environment takes on a partial 3D realistic vibe, without being overly realistic. It lets you know that you’re not in a specific area yet, you’re in the outside world,

But if you’re in an actual zone of the game, your characters will be normal-sized and have that anime look to everything.

Plus, when it comes to the items, I’m in love with how they all look. It’s something about icons of items that fascinate me with how they’re drawn and shaded. It’s probably something to do with the fact I used to draw items for a variety of virtual pet site (like Neopets only…better).

Narration

This one threw me off.

The game starts in a cutscene, so you know the characters in the game talk, but when Ni no Kuni II actually starts to the point you control things, they don’t always speak all their lines. They’ll offer a few words at the start, but won’t actually say anything else.

This is the same for bigger cutscenes, when you think they should speak their lines, but still don’t. It’s really odd.

But as for the characters’ voices themselves, I really like them. They fit everyone quite well and nothing sounds too automated or forced.

Navigation

Navigation isn’t too terrible in the game, and in many of the locations you travel in, you can use certain spells to get into other places you couldn’t at first.

I wouldn’t say Ni no Kuni II wants you to explore everywhere at once. Obviously, there are level restrictions in some places, as certain enemies may be too high to sneak by, but it definitely urges you to explore the general area you’re in–to meet new people, grab more loot, and fight more monsters.

Going through certain doorways in the world (they remind me of Kingdom Hearts as well as the doorways in World of Final Fantasy) have a sense of urgency inside them, and it’s easy to get turned around and not know where to go. These doorways have danger levels, and the higher the danger level, the harder the boss at the end is going to be.

An interesting concept, for sure.

Fast travel

Thank goodness for fast travel.

You can obtain places to jump to by blue circular areas on the ground, normally around the start of a new area, but also in other locations. They aren’t hard to spot, so if you miss one, you probably weren’t paying attention, or didn’t bother going a certain way?

Typically locations have more than one fast travel point, so you can get to an area with a nearby quest a lot easier.

Soundtrack

Personally, I’ve found enjoyment in listening to the soundtrack as I play Ni no Kuni II, but it does get pretty repetitive, and you start to notice it’s a bit too dramatic in places it doesn’t need to be.

I would’ve loved it if they had more of a variety, and actually had music to fit in with the environment and scenes around you.

Final Thoughts

60$ is quite a steep price for a game, but if you enjoy a decent storyline of uniting all kingdoms together to end war, and enjoy taking on a multitude of side quests, I feel like it pretty much fits.

If you’re not someone who wants to do everything the game has to offer, or if you don’t like the fact that not everything is voiced, yadda-yadda-yadda, you might want to wait for it to be on sale.

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