I'm still early in my run with this PC port - but so far, so good! Game runs smooth as butter on my aging system, and the visuals look better than ever.

This game was the sole reason I purchased a PS3 back in the day, and the sole reason I regret giving my PS3 away to my young niece when I got my PS4. Until now.

I'm a lifelong JRPG fan, having got bitten by the bug back in the 8 bit era with Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy. FF IV was where I first realized these games could be incredible story-telling devices allowing for complex narratives built around great characters. It was awe inspiring back then, and now decades later, Ni No Kuni filled me with that same sense of wonder and joy.

Ni No Kuni is chock full of heart and evokes, to me at least, that sense of adventure one gets from The Goonies, The Neverending Story, etc.

If you love Miyazaki/Ghibli films, you've got to check out this game. If you're a sucker for classic fairy tales like me, you've got to check out this game. If you're a JRPG fan, you DEFINITELY need to check out this game.

i need more people to play this game its wonderful im so sick of all the playerbase and forums being from 10 years ago

I played the second entry before this game, and while the two are different genres (turn-based compared to hack-and-slash), I still found myself surprised at how similar the two felt beyond the obvious shared-universe.

my biggest criticism, after 100+ hours of playing, all late game battles and superbosses completed, nearly 90% of the achievements unlocked, is that you move just a tad too slow. no joke, if the developers made Oliver run one-quarter faster it would mean so much to me!

Ni No Kuni is divinely charming. Breathtakingly designed. Gorgeously animated. A heart-felt fairytale. I loved it.

It’s kind of hard to explain how poignant this game is. It’s been a while since I finished it and I still can’t stop thinking about it. You see, this game resonated with me on so many levels. I lost my mom when I was 11 due to an illness and I had no idea this game could relate to me in such a powerful manner.

As such, it holds a lot of sentimentality for me, being the first JRPG that I ever persevered with and completed 100%. I was so proud of myself, and by the end of the game, I could almost feel my mom was somehow proud of me me too.

This game is perfect in every aspect. There is some magic that you cannot find in any other game. This game has the best sense of adventure I’ve ever experienced in any game ever. A game experience like no other, beautifully drawn, with an amazing story. It encompasses:

-The extensive RPG gameplay elements from Final Fantasy.
-The dual worlds from Persona.
-The raising of monsters from Pokemon.
-The world building from Legend of Zelda.
-The art style and charm from Studio Ghibli, makers of such movies as Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle.

This game is an amalgamation of all the best games and shines together stronger than them. This game will touch you deep inside your heart. Do yourself a favor, play this game.

And It feels weird to say this, given the story follows a common theme of depression, but this game was an absolute JOY to play through. Every now and then a game like this comes along that just absolutely blows you away.

10/10

Ni No Kuni is a beautiful jRPG done by Level5 in collaboration with Studio Ghibli which made this game a very heartwarming fairytale.
You play as Oliver whose mother dies and he falls into depression and sadness. After some time a magical fairy appears and with his (yes the fairy is he) help the boy finds a way into another world. A magical world connected with real world where people and animals share a soulmate between worlds. Each person in one world has a soulmate in another. The boy hopes to find his mother's soulmate and bring his mother back to life and is stopped by the great evil the White Witch and Shadar.

The story is simple but it's very heartwarming and if you think deeper it has a meaning. I think the game portrays depression as in form of being heartbroken. Shadar steals the fragments of hearts from people and leave them heartbroken. Many side quests requires you to bring back the heart piece to restore someone's broken heart. A person could lack courage, love, restraint and so on and with any of these pieces missing that person becomes different – sad, angry, gluttonous.

One more thing I want to say about story is that if kids would play games like this they would grow up as better human beings.

Gameplay and world design is similar to older Final Fantasy games. At first you're alone, later you find some friends, find other ways to travel through the world like ship, later a flying ship which opens new areas. The world just like in FF games, a huge open map with cities and other areas you can enter. So yeah pretty much like final fantasy. But one thing is completely different and that is familiar system. It's similar to Pokemons. When you fight a monster you have a chance of taming it and it becomes yours and can help you in battles. You can feed them, evolve them into more powerful forms and equip them with items.

The are two major things I dislike about this game. Combat is fun and would feel fluid if not the stupid AI. The game has real time-turn based combat similar to Tales series where you're kinda can run around but can do actions only once every amount of seconds. What that means? You can't control every character, you can only control one and others are controlled by AI and AI does stupid things. Yes you can tell them how to act but often they either don't listen or do it too late or do something completely useless and waste MP. It's extremely annoying in harder battles. That's why i love trun-based combat, you can control every character and do what you like.

Another thing I dislike is running. There's a lot of pointless running back and forth and backtracking. It isn't fun running through same places again and again.

There are some minor annoyances like side quests. There's too many of them. Yes I get it – take the heart piece and restore the heart of brokenhearted one. But do I really need to do this hundred times? Seriously I get it, enough is enough. Same with all the fetch quests, it's just not fun after you do it 10-20 times.

Graphics are wonderful. You can clearly see the Ghibli hand here. Often you really feel like you're in a Ghibli movie. Besides beautifully drawn animated cut-scenes 3D graphics are very nice too. Cities, monsters, the world, everything looks very pleasing to the eye. Of course don't forget it's a jRPG and a PS3 game after all so don't expect a cutting edge graphics.
The game should be potato friendly so no worries for those with weak PC's.
For ultrawide owners there's a community fix to enable it.

Sound design is amazing. From voice acting to soundtrack it's 10 out of 10. I just wish more of the game would be voiced, a lot of dialogues aren't voiced sadly.
Music is of highest quality here. It never gets old, it's really on par with Final Fantasy or at some points even better.

Ni No Kuni is a good jRPG, worth playing for every jRPG fan. Good story, beautiful world and art, great soundtrack makes it worth playing. You might be annoyed by combat AI and bland side quests but when you hear your fairy, discover new city or restore someone's love it goes way.

Pros

• Great story
  
• Very visually pleasing
  
• Great sound design
  
• Good world design
  
• Familiar system is fun
  
• Good character design

Cons

• AI is annoying
  
• Too many fetch quests and backtraking

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Feels like watchin a ghilbi flim but playin it too

My favorite game of all time. I played through this about 3 times when it first came out and I'm playing it again now for the first time since then and it's just as fun and cute as I remember. I just love this game so much. I even named my cat Cassiopeia and call her Pea. (Today is her 7th birthday!) <3

Far better than the free to play garbage version they just released.

It's Studio Ghibli Poke-DragonQuest. And it's kind of a modern classic.

The good:
The art design is fantastic. It's Studio Ghibli, what did you expect?
The music by Jo Hisaishi is epic and really puts you in that Miyazaki zone.
The animated cut scenes are just what you'd expect: charming and gorgeous.
The wholesomeness is off the charts. The giving and taking heart mechanic is unique, and provides an interesting way to grind upgrades - by helping people out with their emotional problems.
Drippy is the best annoying sidekick character in recent memory.
The Japanese voice acting is great, and what I've heard of the English dub isn't bad either.
The collectible fighting familiar system is fun.
Infinite inventory. Nuff said.
I finished the main quest in just over 50 hours, and that was really the sweet spot. Only one fake out ending, and it was not egregious.

The meh:
The side quests and bounty hunts can get repetitive, but if you don't do them, you're going to be underleveled and without a few important perks.
Grinding a bit is almost mandatory. Hint: There is a certain island that spawns a monster that will dump a ton of XP on you. Find it, and you won't need to grind for more than an hour or two to get where you need to be. But you didn't hear it from me...
The combat system can be a bit unwieldy, especially if one of your characters gets knocked out and you have to heal them on the fly. Definitely easier to deal with using a controller, so this is one of the few games I wouldn't recommend keyboard and mouse for.
Some familiars are just better than others. There are two or three that you will want to have in the late game, and finding an online guide of some kind will help you.
Oliver and his companions are kind of one note personalitywise. The downside of Ni no Kuni's family friendly feel is the lack of moral complexity or gray areas.

The verdict: If you like modern DragonQuest games, you'll like this. If you like Pokemon/Digimon monster training games, you'll like this. If you're a big fan of films like Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle, you will like this. At full price, it's a bit much, but if you see it for $20 on sale, do not hesitate.

Remember the first time you watched the movie "Up" and you started crying like a baby because you couldn't choke back the tears?

This is one of the most beautifully animated and presented interactive jRPGs I have ever seen in my life. It is quite literally an interactive Studio Ghibli movie with all of the feels, all of the beautiful animation, and all of the charming humor. All glued together with an "active time battle system" that reminds me a lot of final fantasy 3/6

If you like Studio Ghibili, or just "disney magic" in general, I can not say enough how highly I think of this game. It is an absolute work of art.