3/5 ★ – Zoraiz's review of Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch.

*Updated* 8/5/20 I Platinumed the game, and let's my score from 3.5★ to 3★'s... **** A traditional Jrpg, mixed with anime and Pokemon. Hailed as a overlooked gem, Ni No Kuni was able to spring a sequel, as well as a remastered port to all current gen platforms, years after it's initial launch. Most would say that points to it being a great game. Now while it is a good game with many great aspects, I think it is, a highly overpraised JRPG. The art style is very reminiscent of child like anime's, and looks very close to most Studio Ghibli movies. That is a selling point it has. But do not let that fool you, as there are less that 5 total "Anime" cutscenes throughout the entire game. Just beating it clocking around 68 hours, that's a lot to desire, from an anime rpg. Don't misunderstand, there are plenty of cutscenes, most of which are not voiced, so lots of text bubbles to distribute the narrative, but 99% of them, are not anime specific. Because of the visual stylization, most would also assume that it's a kids game. And they would be right, except for the deep level Jrpg mechanics of the game, that either require a more experienced mind, or someone with high literacy levels that wants to read through all the in game wiki's. The musical score for the game is very well done. With lots of orchestrated pieces, and grand scale bgm, it is entertaining, and fits the game very well. But be warned, it can get boring at times, even to the point of putting you to sleep. The gameplay is pretty straight forward, and comparable to most turn based jrpgs. But battles are not so "random" in that the enemies appear on screen, and when either you run into then, or they into you, you enter the battle stage. Like most jrpgs, you essentially enter a battle "arena" and then are able to select the command that you want done. The twist in this game, is the Pokemon aspect. Where you essentially battle and capture monsters to use in battle and fight alongside you. There are at least 240 different types, but that includes their "evolutions". With a variety of different looks for each creature, and fun names for them, like the "potty" which is literally a pot, or the "baatender" which is a sheep on 2 legs, there's a lot of fun experimentation and various attacks/abilities to learn and master. As far as the overall narrative and cast of characters, you have the bare minimum that you'd expect in an jRPG. A young immature main character, and second similar age/stage female lead, and a lighten the mood but mentoring 3rd character. The overall narrative starts very sweet, with the main character going on a quest to help his loved ones. What ensues is an adventure where the player is forced to mature, and realizes the hardness of the world, all the while not losing what makes children special, the glimmer of hope that there is a better tomorrow to look forward to. That light will prevail over darkness, and that the past can be overlooked, and we all deserve a second chance. Bridging it to our faith, it also has a clear message. That light will Conquer the Darkness and that hope for tomorrow is exactly what we need. There are many more themes that can be expanded on as well. Overall the game is fine, fun at times. But it is nothing special or new. The main selling point of the game is it's anime art style, but when there is really so little of actual anime, it's just like any other anime jrpg. You'd be way better off playing Kingdom Hearts.