A perfect example of what a modern JRPG should feel like. And it plays great too.
The story follows Oliver, a cheerful thirteen year old boy who has a good friend and an even better mom, and is an all-around nice kid. However, when events unfold that cause his mother to lose her life, Oliver becomes crushed and heartbroken. When a doll of his comes to life through his tears, however, he is told of a way he can save his mom's life by finding her soul mate in a parallel world. With the help of this doll named Drippy, he embarks on a journey into the other world in order to save his mom while also having to save both worlds from sinister forces that wish to destroy all that is good and pure.
Right away, the game's narrative is paced perfectly. The story presents itself in such a way that you can follow every detail without getting lost or confused. This is a good thing, since the story itself is one hell of a ride. It takes twists and turns in the most unexpected ways, and the conflicts surrounding Oliver and pals are well-written, even in the dialogue exchanges. The voice acting helps this as well, even though Oliver's voice actor might not get the big emotions out well enough. Not to mention that his English accent isn't as refined as most of the other characters in the game. With that said, every character is fleshed out well, and only serves to add to the incredible amount of charm this game has.
And what a great cast this game has. First is Drippy, Lord High Lord of the Fairies, the wise-cracking guide who has a lantern hanging off his nose (I don't know, it's Ghibli/cartoon logic). He speaks in a heavy Welsh accent, and he's by far one of the best comic relief characters in any video game. I was worried I would get annoyed with him due to his constant wise-cracks and incredibly thick accent, but I grew to love his remarks and advice. Accompanying Oliver are Esther, the daughter of a sage; Swaine, local thief-turned-good-guy; and a cluster of so many other amazing characters it's hard to keep track of them all. Each of them is written beautifully, and bring with them great personalities too, something I want to see more of in future RPGs.
I also want to see more worlds like this one. Going in, I knew I was in for a visual feast, since I've watched enough Studio Ghibli films to know of Miyazaki's great art style. And what did I get? Exactly that. From the famous Ghibli hills, the rich plains, the wonderful winter islands, to even the darkest bogs of despair, the world design is nothing short of spectacular. The landscape allows easy travel and lots of sight-seeing along the way, even as you gain more means of travel as the story moves along. Even though the in-game characters and environments are cell-shaded, that style just makes the game pop out even more, and makes for great eye-candy. I found myself doing absolutely nothing throughout many parts of the game just to see the grandeur and beauty of it all, and I still haven't gone through it all yet.
You'll go through the game trekking through the lands searching for your next objective with your party. Dotting the lands are many creatures that want to make your life hard. This is where Ni no Kuni's excellent battle system comes into play. Once you get sent to the battle arena, you're left to learn a tactics-based system that gives you full control of your character or his/her familiar: a creature that you can capture and use in battle, similar to Pokémon. Each party member can send out a familiar or fight on their own, with a full range of abilities that they gain as they level up. Fights require quick thinking and a changing strategy as many enemies can become unpredictable in which ability they're going to use next. Even the memorable boss fights are tough, considering their weaknesses are not always effective against them, and you'll soon find yourself quickly wasting magic points at the expense of a few good hits. None of these detract from the quality and fair challenge, however, even if the system takes some getting used to at first. Once you learn it, however, the game opens up and allows you to experiment in combat with ease.
The familiars you use have a unique way of leveling up. Giving a familiar treats like chocolate, ice cream, or any variety of snacks gives them stat boosts depending on the snack. Some familiars prefer certain snacks though, and when you see hearts appear over their heads, you've given them their preference, and will also increase certain stats much faster. These foods also increase their familiarity, which further increases how high their stats can go. You can feed them special foods to have them evolve into a stronger state. This resets their level, but not their stats, and gives them a slew of new abilities to learn. If I had one problem with this, however, is that it does turn into a grind-fest trying to find the right foods for your familiars while also trying not to sacrifice other vital stats. For instance, if one familiar likes a food that increases their attack, you'll also have to compensate for other areas like defense, evasion, and speed with more of that kind of food. This is a minor issue though, as snacks are fairly easy to come across in this world.
You can eventually find armor and weapon upgrades throughout the game, as well as items like badges and medals that give specific stat boosts to the player and their familiar. These items can either be found, bought, or created through an alchemy system. You'll find various items around the world, and these can be used to create things like armor, items to heal up in combat or even familiar treats. You'll find recipes by doing side quests, but a lot of these items come up through experimentation, as there's no real way of knowing what you need for any one item that you want to create. This leads to many failed experiments and wasted time, but thankfully items aren't wasted due to the failures, so the game forgives your attempts in a fair way.
What RPG could be complete without side quests though? In every town you come across, somebody always has a task for you to do, whether it's a fetch quest, killing off certain creatures, or locating rare items, the game has loads for you to do. One type of side quest is actually story-related, in which you have to repair the broken hearts of certain people by extracting different heart elements like courage, enthusiasm, and so on from other folks in order to fix these people. There are many plot-related missions like this, and it's actually heartwarming to see the characters rise up from their melancholy and begin their lives again. These missions can chew up a lot of your time, but they never bog you down or become tedious.
Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch has so much to offer. The compelling story, amazing art design, memorable characters, a fairly challenging combat system, and many side quests are just part of what gives this game its incredible amount of charm and beauty. If you're a JRPG fan, you owe it to yourself to play Ni no Kuni. I completed my first playthrough within forty-five hours, but even still, I didn't do all of the side-quests or find every little secret this game has to offer. Pick up this game when you can, and experience the best RPG game of the year so far.