Ni no Kuni completed. Its appeal is derived from nostalgia. The last generation of systems seemed bereft of RPGs in comparison to PS2 and before, and Ni no Kuni filled the gap: world maps, towns, sidequests, whatever you want from your standard RPG. But that's what it is: a standard RPG. Other than that, I can't say anything exceptional about it. If it were back on the SNES/PS1/PS2 era, it wouldn't've stood out other than an unusual battle system.

Speaking of that, it is interesting but not completely refined. Only one character can be used at a time, and the player can move the character around the field at will. Once an attack is used, there is a short wait period until it can be used again. The protagonist here is a mage, and consequently monsters have to be captured and developed to serve as tanks. When they are deployed, the player controls them instead of the protagonist, who cannot be given commands until the monster is put away. I think this is what they were trying to get at in Lightning Returns when they allowed her to move around the field, except this actually makes a difference. You can dodge moves or work around enemies with ease (for the protagonist this is important so he can stay in the back to cast spells). My first gripe is using the control stick to move about and using the D-pad to input commands is one of the most awkward things I've done. I had to learn how to curve my other fingers around my thumb to switch in and around the menu whilst I weaved around enemies. The second is the AI is exceptionally stupid. I can definitely say the other human characters' moves are pretty much worthless. One dude can steal and one girl can capture enemies and besides that, they are useless. Half the time I see them put away their monsters and charge to the front lines, only to get killed. It's one of the most singularly annoying things ever knowing this could've been avoided if they just used what I assigned to them.

The plot is... okay. That's part of the reason why I didn't say this is an exceptional game. It's your run-of-the-mill RPG with an evil person taking over the world. Everything is sugar-coated and no one really gets hurt; they just talk about their feelings and suddenly everyone's fine and dandy. I would say this game is aimed toward children if it weren't so difficult at times.

The sidequests here provide an opportunity to discuss something that's been stewing in my mind for a while. I didn't play Ni no Kuni by myself but rather with Paul, and whenever we got bored with that we played Ōkami, so I was able to easily compare the two. In Ni no Kuni, there's a building in town where people post requests, and this mostly serves as the only sidequests. You can boil them down to two types: bounties or fetch quests. Either you run around the world map and find a dude to kill or you're looking for a diary someone left somewhere. Ōkami had a variety of things to do: chase down a thief, help a man bloom all the cherry blossoms in town, design the current textile fashions, race a mailman, bounties, help a woman gain faith in the spirits again, or fishing. Yes, there are fetch quests and bounties in there, but they're not the only thing you do. And I feel many games nowadays are leaning toward Ni no Kuni's direction, which is just lazy on their part and ultimately creates a boring experience. How many fucking times is this dude going to lose his diary? I'm sick of it. Give me something different to do.

So yeah, if the PS3 weren't so bereft of RPGs, I don't think it would've received such acclaim. It's quite pretty, the music is nice to listen to, and the battle system is cool, but I don't think that overrides the blandness of the plot or repetition of the gameplay. If there's nothing out there that you feel like playing, I'd recommend this to pass the time but that's about it.