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lostlegacyuniverse · 6 years

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NNK2 Thoughts

So with Ni No Kuni 2 having been out for a year now, as well as having the free adventure DLC that just went live, I can finally sit down and talk about the sequel to the amazing first game.

This is long and there will be spoilers ahead, you have been warned.

Combat! The combat of the second game is wonderful and fluid. Blocking, dodging, being able to even attack with ranged weapons like guns and wands at will. It’s really well done and easy to get into the rhythm of combat. I especially like the idea of recharging your mana by hitting enemies with melee attacks, and then using that mana on an empowered weapon for a massive hit in kind. Putting a pause on combat when using items was a nice feature to have as well. And the party AI! Oh, goodness it’s nice. Sure they do silly things on occasion, but they don’t come close the the AI teammates of Ni No Kuni 1. No Esther running into an enemy attack, no Oliver eating every ounce of mana he can as fast as he can. They’re smart! They build charge, they are cautious with spells, they run into healing zones, they back off when on low hp, THEY DODGE ATTACKS. It’s a wonderfully drastic improvement. However, having a limit on each helpful item type per battle was seriously annoying, especially against one of the Tainted dragon mini bosses which, -even with me being a full 10 levels ahead of him- made the battle draw out for far, far longer than it needed to. It wasn’t fun to get smacked for half my hp for the 40th time, and then realizing that I had no more ways to recover hp through items. This is an RPG, not Dark Souls. I have 99 4 Leafed Soreaways, let me use them, dammit. The only thing I really disliked about the combat was the inability to force the enemy AI to target a specific character on my team with a taunt or spotlight or what have you. Which led to awkward situations where- for example- a Tainted monster would suddenly turn on me -mid attack- after having focused an ally for the entire battle.

Aside from combat and story, I really disliked how damn tedious building my kingdom was. It felt like a glorified mobile game. There was even a point where I had to wait for a specific research to finish, so I could move on. This wasn’t one of those “Oh I want more xp before I keep going” kind of things, I had to actually put down my controller for 30 minutes, and WAIT for this research to finish to PROGRESS THE PLOT OF THE GAME, because the game would not allow me to continue until I had done so. Honestly, that’s one of the reasons I probably won’t be replaying this game from scratch. And it’s not due to lazyness. I’ve replayed the first Ni No Kuni dozens of times, hell I’ve even replayed Persona 5 TWICE, which is a 100 hour run each. I’d have no problem replaying Ni No Kuni 2, it’s just the way you progress the story, and all of the shit it’s locked behind is a complete turn off for starting a new game run.

Story wise, the game was... okay. Nothing terrible, but nothing fantastic either. There were a lot of plot points that were either never really answered, or were done so in a way that felt just unsatisfying and copped out. For example how quickly Evan forgave Mausinger for what he had done not only to his father and him, but to the entire kingdom (who then equally forgave him just as quickly).

I was admittedly thrown for a loop and shocked when it was revealed that Roland and Doloran were “soul mates” (a term from the first game that was CRITICAL TO THE PLOT, that meant that two people from different worlds shared the same soul. What happens to one, happens to the other, death or brokenheartedness for example.) Doloran just monologues for a bit about how they “were the same” and “wanted the same thing” (to resurrect a loved one), and ends up asking Roland to join him, but again, as crucial as a point it was supposed to be, it felt very sudden and copped out. Long story short, Doloran had supposedly been trying to manipulate Roland to do things. What exactly? I don’t know, it’s not explained, let alone important in any way. Did he use him to try and sabotage Evan’s kingdom? No. Did he use him to help him steal the Kingsbonds of other kingdoms? No. Did he use Roland to accomplish his goals at all? No, he didn’t need him for any real reason. There was this sudden pressure of “THIS IS IMPORTANT” but it held no actual merit.

Soul Mates weren’t mentioned at all during the entirety of the story, and the developers themselves said you didn’t need to play the first one to understand the second. So to have this “VERY IMPORTANT PLOT POINT”- seriously I can't stress this enough- just suddenly pop up at literally the final boss in the final chapter, with no prior warning or discussion felt downright lazy. It certainly made no sense to anyone that had never played the first game. What significance was it supposed to hold for them? It’s not like this was a cute little easter egg like the Trial of Kings was, what with the Ni No Kuni 1 crew being there, this was supposed to be a BIG IMPORTANT REVEAL. But knowing about the bond changed absolutely nothing about the fight or the story that followed. There was no danger to Roland, no dramatic fight to the death followed by self sacrifice. Doloran just got thowmped, did his evil hocus pocus anyways, and we flew off into the 9th dimension to go fight Bahamut. The only reason the bond between them exists, is so that Roland had a way into Evan’s world, and later a way back, and that’s about it. Sadly there wasn’t even retribution for Doloran for how many lives he’d taken to fuel his Horned One monster (regardless of the fact they were returned after it was killed), nor the damage he’d caused by taking the Kingsbonds (which weren’t returned, by the way). His love blinded ass even created a death dimension dragon that BROKE THE LITERAL SKY, and all he got was a pat on the shoulder and a talk about how sad it was to lose a loved one, and that he would enjoy this new world if he tried.

I.. what? What? Course you could argue that Shadar and Cassiopia from the first game received similar treatment. However, Shadar and Cass fell into a deep despair (from their respective actions, defying orders and saving Alicia, and using the Manna) that consumed them to the point of wanting to inflict that despair on others. Shadar payed for his actions by separating his soul from Oliver’s so that the boy could keep living while he drifted into Limbo / The Afterlife. He didn’t even see himself as being forgiven for his actions. Cassiopia redeemed herself when she helped fight against the Zodiarchs, the abomination created from her despair, grief, and magic that had utterly consumed her for thousands of years. Doloran? Doloran killed thousands of people and threw the world out of balance to get his beloved back, when in fact she was WAY beyond saving, and then did nothing to help defeat the monster he had unleashed. But it’s okay guys, he was in love, he gets a free pass. I thought this game was supposed to be “more mature” and ‘more geared towards adults” than the first one. So how is it that the first game handles these messages and themes better than the one that was designed to does?

Don’t even get me started on the lame assed bonus ending of “Oh well Evan only united 4 of the kingdoms, you missed all the smaller ones, so your KID went ahead and took care of that in the future and offscreen, and he’s the one that ACTUALLY united the world. He’s the real hero, not you.” Don't invalidate the efforts of the player like that. Don’t.

Aside from the remarkably disappointing ending, there were a few other gripes I had.

So your Kingmaker is Lofty (who doesn’t compare on any level to Drippy’s character, don’t get me started on that rabbit hole) and he’s supposed to impose this weak and downright worthless appearance compared to Longfang, Oakenheart, Brineskimmer, and Bastion. He’s not supposed to be this majestic, powerful dragon like the other 4. Until of course it’s revealed that he IS, he just can’t transform because his bond isn’t strong enough. Cool idea right?

NOT WHEN THE TWIST IS SPELLED OUT ON THE VERY FIRST CUTSECENE WITH THE DECLARATION. HE’S LITERALLY AT THE TOP OF THE DOCUMENT. IN FULL EASTERN DRAGON FORM. BEFORE YOU EVEN GET TO THE FIRST KINGDOM.

Not to mention the fact that he’s even on the COVER OF THE GAME. Who did this? Who decided this was a good idea? Who ruins their own twist like that?*coughDisneyandTreasurePlanet,no,I’mnotstillsaltyaboutthat,shutup*

And the characters, ohhhh the characters.

Evan felt surprisingly out of place in his own story. I understand that he’s a young king and his character should reflect that, but his growth felt dry and fake. He didn’t really expand as a character, he didn’t overcome his flaws, or grow in any meaningful way. The people around him did that for him. By the end, I cared more about Leander, Bracken, hell, even the other Kingdom leaders than I did about Evan. Evan stayed this cringey child character that didn’t seem to understand very critical concepts about running a kingdom, and the rest of the supporting party was happy to stand back and let the world tick down to literal annihilation as he figured it out on his own. It definitely felt more like Roland should have been the main character of the game. He had more drive and interesting traits right from the start than Evan had all game to develop. Which is incredibly disappointing. I wanted to hear more about Roland’s backstory of being bullied, how he became President, how the literal atomic BOMB going off moments before he was yanked away to Evan’s world damaged his psyche. I will admit the traitor arc was very interesting and had a lot of promise. I only wish it had lasted longer, or had a larger impact on the other protagonists.

Batu and Tani lost a lot of value throughout the game, which is a damn shame considering they were these rough, authority defying Sky Pirates. About the time Goldpaw ran around (which is very early on, mind you) they started to fade into the background, and they were almost forgotten until Roland’s traitor arc, which is CHAPTER 8. OF 9. Let that sink in.

Leander and Braken had a similar problem of being shoved to the side in favor of Evan, but however stayed relevant throughout the remaining story. Although I would have loved to hear more about Hydropolis before the eruption and subsequent daily magic resets. Or more about Broadleaf as a whole, like for example the GIANT FLYING SUBMARINE THE SIZE OF A CONTINENT SITTING JUST 2 MILES NORTH STUCK IN THE ICE? OR THE GIANT CRACKS IN THE SEA THAT GO INTO THE VOID? NO? WE’RE NOT GONNA TALK ABOUT THAT? Okay.

There was just all this amazing backstory and lore that could have been expanded on, like connections to the first game, places and ideas that changed over time. Where did the Higgledies come from? What happened to the familiars? To Wizards? To Nazcaa? To Cassiopia? The other kingdoms? Anything? At all?

Honestly, this game could have come out as completely unrelated to Ni No Kuni 1, and I would not have noticed a single difference. Not that Ni No Kuni 2 is a bad game, it’s far from it. But if you’re looking for an engaging story and have to choose between the 2, pick the first game. No amount of improved combat can redeem a story so desperate to jump the shark, that it falls in and gets eaten.

#ni no kuni 2 #ni no kuni #story time #my thoughts #personal

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