Ni No Kuni- Wrath of the White Witch
Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch is Level Five’s latest roleplaying game. Only just released on January 22nd 2013 here are a few initial thoughts on the game.
Graphics: The graphics are clean, and well-animated. The animated portions feel like you are playing a cartoon. It’s quite charming. The look of the gameplay reminds you of the Dragon Quest games, while the video portions are most like watching a high-end anime series.
Controls: Outside of the battles, the controls are similar to Final Fantasy XIII – it plays like a well-controlled 3-D roleplaying game. In battles, you have control over where you move on the battlefield as well as the kind of attacks. You can also control your companion, your familiar, through various button combinations on the controller.
Sound (music/voices): The voice-acting is top-notch – you might only wish that there were more. There is some dialogue that is text-only, and it would have been nice to have the voice acting there as well. The musical score is beautiful and orchestral. Through only a couple of hours of play, the music has been included cheery and playful, lighthearted, and sweeping, moving orchestral pieces that match the broad changes from the early 1950s-era town to the fantastical world of the White Witch. The music is quite robust, and the player will experience at least 10 different tracks in just the first few hours of play time.
Story/Characters:
Oliver – while he is supposed to be around 13 years old, he is really an innocent little boy. It is a nice change of pace from the typical muscle-bound, angry, vengeful characters in many games. Oliver is a young boy from old, small-town America, who wants nothing more than to have his mother back. His character is believable as a rambunctious boy, and it is easy to feel an immediate empathy for him. The acting and animation combine to allow for quick connections so that the user truly feels for him when he suffers loss.
Minor characters – Oliver has a believable supporting cast, though time will tell if the supplemental characters get flushed out a little more as the game goes forward.
Story- The story is fun and initially upbeat, but trouble starts quickly. Oliver’s quest is set up within the first hour of gameplay. Quite a few mysteries are already set up and are quite intriguing.
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