The game is absolutely worth its price

[Skl3ros]

I am only 9 hours in on my first playthrough but I can already say that this game is 100% worth the price. I expected it to be like DQ11 where most of the praise comes from the visuals and having a decent story but oh boy this game is way better than that.

The combat system is just amazing.
It goes a lot deeper than you would initially think with each character being able to hold 3 familiars and being able to control 3 character total later in the game (so you can control 9 familiars in a fight). Each familiar is unique and has different stats and abilities (so they are not just reskins of the same thing). You can also transform them into stronger versions with more ability slots (which resets their level).
The combat system is by far not just turn based as I thought it would be. Your movement very much matters to bait out attacks, dodge attacks, gaining time, picking up orbs (small amount of HP & MP which drops randomly in the fight) etc. Then there is also a mechanic where enemies will charge up attacks and you have to quickly defend or evade them to avoid most of the damage. You only have 2-3 seconds for this so you have to pay attention and react quickly.

Overall the combat system is (much to my surprise) very engaging and extremely fun. It might just be the most fun combat system I have seen yet in a JRPG and I have played a lot of them.

Combine that with the incredibly beautiful graphics, the exceptionally unique charm and character that this game spreads everywhere and a emotionally packed well paced story and you got yourself a masterpiece. And yes I can say that after only 9 hours. I have not been so eager to play a game (especially a RPG) in years.

So for all those who are on the edge because of the price: just get it now. You will not regret it. After playing the game you would probably regret getting this on a sale anyways so just buy it now. It is worth the price.

[Pilda]

+1 You are right. It's a wonderful game.

[Cosmic Kid]

wack. battle system is wack. dont buy this game. unless u like pokemon style battle.

[B l u e b e r r y P o p t a r t]

Great post and absolutely correct, hope you enjoy the rest of the game and it's story, it gets better.

[MangorushZ]

Indeed it is an awesome game, plan to purchase the PC copy very soon hopefully in the weekend.

[ﾚﾌﾄ]

The game is good but I don't agree the framing if your going to highlight the price.

This is just a critique of the game that fails to account for the fact that the game was made in 2011. Why would you write a critique of the game and highlight the price without taking this into account?

It's absurd and you should rethink your analysis.

[Vyrtualis]

Originally posted by CosmicKid2020:

wack. battle system is wack. dont buy this game. unless u like pokemon style battle.

The battle system is good and a great example of how a hybrid RT/TB battle system should be done.

Originally posted by ﾚﾌﾄ:

The game is good but I don't agree the framing if your going to highlight the price.

This is just a critique of the game that fails to account for the fact that the game was made in 2011. Why would you write a critique of the game and highlight the price without taking this into account?

It's absurd and you should rethink your analysis.

The original came out back then. This is a remaster that's had more money invested into making it look and perform better on modern hardware. It also includes all previous PS3 DLC.

Third party retailers also have discounts on the RRP. Right now you can get it 11% off at GMG (VIPs can get it for 15% off w/voucher) https://www.greenmangaming.com/games/ni-no-kuni-wrath-of-the-white-witch-remastered-pc/. GMG is an official steam partner and retailer.

[ﾚﾌﾄ]

Originally posted by VerticalUplink:

Originally posted by CosmicKid2020:

wack. battle system is wack. dont buy this game. unless u like pokemon style battle.

The battle system is good and a great example of how a hybrid RT/TB battle system should be done.

Originally posted by ﾚﾌﾄ:

The game is good but I don't agree the framing if your going to highlight the price.

This is just a critique of the game that fails to account for the fact that the game was made in 2011. Why would you write a critique of the game and highlight the price without taking this into account?

It's absurd and you should rethink your analysis.

The original came out back then. This is a remaster that's had more money invested into making it look and perform better on modern hardware. It also includes all previous PS3 DLC.

Third party retailers also have discounts on the RRP. Right now you can get it 11% off at GMG (VIPs can get it for 15% off w/voucher) https://www.greenmangaming.com/games/ni-no-kuni-wrath-of-the-white-witch-remastered-pc/. GMG is an official steam partner and retailer.

All I'm saying is, I can get Ni no Kuni on PS3 right now for just under $15 and the remaster is being marketed for $50. DLC is also free on PS3.

$35 is a big discrepancy for a remaster. And I'm more interested in critiquing the base asking price, not prices a lot of consumers won't even be conscious of because the company isn't bothering to be forthright by introducing artificial barriers.
But if you insist, on Ebay I can get the PS3 version for under $10. That's about 30% off compared to Amazon and the discrepancy is still apparent.

It seems to me that the game may not actually "be absolutely worth the price". Is the content and the remastered graphics comparative to something like DMC4 SpecialEdition that came out for $25?

[Vyrtualis]

Originally posted by ﾚﾌﾄ:

Originally posted by VerticalUplink:

The battle system is good and a great example of how a hybrid RT/TB battle system should be done.



The original came out back then. This is a remaster that's had more money invested into making it look and perform better on modern hardware. It also includes all previous PS3 DLC.

Third party retailers also have discounts on the RRP. Right now you can get it 11% off at GMG (VIPs can get it for 15% off w/voucher) https://www.greenmangaming.com/games/ni-no-kuni-wrath-of-the-white-witch-remastered-pc/. GMG is an official steam partner and retailer.

This is a pivot from OP's original post but I appreciate that we're talking price now.

All I'm saying is, I can get Ni no Kuni on PS3 right now for just under $15 and the remaster is being marketed for $50. DLC is also free on PS3.

$35 is a big discrepancy for a remaster. And I'm more interested in critiquing the base asking price, not prices a lot of consumers won't even be conscious of because the company isn't bothering to be forthright by introducing artificial barriers.
But if you insist, on Ebay I can get the PS3 version for under $10. That's about 30% off compared to Amazon and the discrepancy is still apparent.

It seems to me that the game may not actually "be absolutely worth the price". Is the content and the remastered graphics comparative to something like DMC4 SpecialEdition that came out for $25?

It's now common for publishers to charge just under the RRP price of a brand new AAA title for a remaster of this magnitude, to try to recoup the cost of the remaster in the initial sales window.

Whether that is the right price point is up for discussion. Maybe they'd make more money through sales volume if the price was adjusted lower to make it more appealing.

The only thing you can do now as a consumer is judge for yourself. Worth is subjective, and I know it's cliche, but if the price isn't right for you, wait. The game will be at least 30% off by the end of the year, and 50% off in 6 months time.

[Solidus's Revenge]

Originally posted by ﾚﾌﾄ:

The game is good but I don't agree the framing if your going to highlight the price.

This is just a critique of the game that fails to account for the fact that the game was made in 2011. Why would you write a critique of the game and highlight the price without taking this into account?

It's absurd and you should rethink your analysis.

Like any game, whether or not it's worth it is going to be subjective. I am a fan of the game, but am still disappointed to see the price point. I was expecting it to be in the $20-30 range, as it is just a remaster. I suspect that the inflated pricing is due to it also coming out on the Switch. Nintendo fans will buy anything, it seems, and many things over and over at inflated prices. So they are keeping the other versions on par with Switch pricing, instead of in line with other remasters on PC/PS4.

That being said, I agree with the OP in that, especially if you've never played the game before, you will still get your money's worth out of it. It's a fantastic game, and quite long, if I remember correctly. So for many people it is certainly worth the full price.

[Vyrtualis]

Originally posted by Solidus' Revenge:

I suspect that the inflated pricing is due to it also coming out on the Switch. Nintendo fans will buy anything, it seems, and many things over and over at inflated prices. So they are keeping the other versions on par with Switch pricing, instead of in line with other remasters on PC/PS4.

That's a good point, and absolutely something that I could see Bamco doing.

[ﾚﾌﾄ]

Originally posted by Solidus' Revenge:

Originally posted by ﾚﾌﾄ:

The game is good but I don't agree the framing if your going to highlight the price.

This is just a critique of the game that fails to account for the fact that the game was made in 2011. Why would you write a critique of the game and highlight the price without taking this into account?

It's absurd and you should rethink your analysis.

Like any game, whether or not it's worth it is going to be subjective. I am a fan of the game, but am still disappointed to see the price point. I was expecting it to be in the $20-30 range, as it is just a remaster. I suspect that the inflated pricing is due to it also coming out on the Switch. Nintendo fans will buy anything, it seems, and many things over and over at inflated prices. So they are keeping the other versions on par with Switch pricing, instead of in line with other remasters on PC/PS4.

That being said, I agree with the OP in that, especially if you've never played the game before, you will still get your money's worth out of it. It's a fantastic game, and quite long, if I remember correctly. So for many people it is certainly worth the full price.

I'm not really interested in the subjective value, you can literally apply that reasoning to anything. I'm more interested in comparing it to other remasters in the market.

If you've never played the game before, you can still buy it without an inflated price. The only caveat being if you are someone who doesn't own a PS3. But even still, I'm not sure anyone could be reasonably happy about the asking price.

After all, a game that was made in 2011 is still a game made in 2011, even if it's your first time playing. The circumstances, like Nintendo's profit motive, aren't really super important to the consumer. If that's how it is, maybe we should have dropped the Nintendo release. But they didn't, so here we are.

[Vilhjálmr]

Originally posted by VerticalUplink:

Maybe they'd make more money through sales volume if the price was adjusted lower to make it more appealing.

They absolutely would.

Copy pasted from my reply in another thread, but I feel it's fitting here.

Originally posted by Vilhjálmr:

Again, I go back to Valkyria Chronicles. When the game launched, it hit an all time high player count of over 5,000 on the day of release. That's crazy for a niche title. The second highest concurrent player count came when the game went on sale for 75% off. 3,500 players were online that day. It's estimated that about a million people own the game on steam.

The release day player count for Ni No Kuni was just 547 users.

Again, both games were niche Playstation titles before coming to PC. You could even say the demand for Ni No Kuni was higher given that the sequel was released on steam but not the original. The announcement of VC for steam kind of came out of nowhere.

This is how much pricing can affect your sales and lasting power.

[Skl3ros]

Originally posted by ﾚﾌﾄ:

The game is good but I don't agree the framing if your going to highlight the price.

This is just a critique of the game that fails to account for the fact that the game was made in 2011. Why would you write a critique of the game and highlight the price without taking this into account?

It's absurd and you should rethink your analysis.

Because as a consumer who is intrested in getting the game you only have a choice of either accepting the price and buying it or not doing so.

I dont disagree that the game should be cheaper considering that it is an 8 year old game (aside from it being remastered). I am simply ignoring the argument altogether because it is not relevant as a consumer. The price has been set and all the arguing in the world will not change it.

However what you can do as a consumer is simply look at what you are getting for the pricetag. And this is the point I wanted to get across. Is the game cheap? No of course not. But it is worth it's asking price for what you get? Absolutely.

[Scyris]

I never bothered with this or its sequel for the same reason I never touched kingdom hearts, it looks like a game for little kids, and I also dislike Ghibi's art style as well so that put another nail in the coffin for this. I also do not care for the dragon quest char designs as its by the idiot who does dragonball and I cannot stand his art style. I also heard this game doesn't even have proper controller support, which is damn pathethic for a pc game in this day and age, even more so if its a port of a console jrpg thats meant to be played with a controller.

[Solidus's Revenge]

Originally posted by ﾚﾌﾄ:

Originally posted by Solidus' Revenge:

Like any game, whether or not it's worth it is going to be subjective. I am a fan of the game, but am still disappointed to see the price point. I was expecting it to be in the $20-30 range, as it is just a remaster. I suspect that the inflated pricing is due to it also coming out on the Switch. Nintendo fans will buy anything, it seems, and many things over and over at inflated prices. So they are keeping the other versions on par with Switch pricing, instead of in line with other remasters on PC/PS4.

That being said, I agree with the OP in that, especially if you've never played the game before, you will still get your money's worth out of it. It's a fantastic game, and quite long, if I remember correctly. So for many people it is certainly worth the full price.

I'm not really interested in the subjective value, you can literally apply that reasoning to anything. I'm more interested in comparing it to other remasters in the market.

If you've never played the game before, you can still buy it without an inflated price. The only caveat being if you are someone who doesn't own a PS3. But even still, I'm not sure anyone could be reasonably happy about the asking price.

After all, a game that was made in 2011 is still a game made in 2011, even if it's your first time playing. The circumstances, like Nintendo's profit motive, aren't really super important to the consumer. If that's how it is, maybe we should have dropped the Nintendo release. But they didn't, so here we are.

I don't understand how you could even begin to talk about the value of the game, and how much it is "worth" its price, without being subjective. Publishers always price their games at a level that they think will sell. It is up to the consumer to decide if that price is acceptable to them. The OP was just expressing that the price was more than acceptable to them, as they are really enjoying the game. The age of the original release is irrelevant. This is a new version of the game, released in 2019. Everyone has to decide for themselves what this version is worth to them. And that is always going to be subjective.

Now, if you wanted to get into some kind of comparison discussion about the actual costs of remastering games, that is not what the OP was doing here. And to have a proper discussion about remasters in a way that could make it less subjective, we'd have to know more details about how various games were remastered, such as how easy or difficult to port the code was, or to get it working on new hardware, or what licenses had to be renewed or renegotiated, or how big the team was, or how many assets were upgraded, etc. It's all apples to oranges unless you've got insider info.