Is Ni No Kuni 2 a huge disappointment or what ?

Philippo · Aug 30, 2018

-Incredibly basic story that is just probably 3 points spanned over 30 hours
-Characters lack any sort of developement outside their initial arc
-Tedious sidequests
-Simple level design that does not use some of the game idea's at its best
-Sub-par comedic wing (i mean the little guy in NnK1 was so much better)
-Couple of story beats force you to develop your kingdom even if just until before that is given as a mini-game
-Ridiculously easy (kind of fixed i heard), lack of strategy, basic movesets and skillsets
-Some characters shares most of their weapons and skillsets, making them less unique
-Lack of cinematics
-Weird decisions on what to voice and whatnot

Yeah, it's bad imho, one giant disappointment to me, i expected so much more out of it. That said, the game is still very charming and full of stuff to do, so it's not like it's a 3/10, it's just an undercooked (rushed, even) sequel.

Kanann · Aug 30, 2018

I put 84 Metascore for this game in crime of humanity catalogue.

How? They shipped review copies with weed or drugs or something?

How?

Devonraynor · Aug 30, 2018

LoveNd NNK1 ,but thought NNK2 was average at best. Felt rushed throughout second part of the game

Jolkien · Aug 30, 2018

It was a massive disappointment for me. I'm in the minority I'm assuming but I vastly prefered the first game.

StraySheep · Aug 30, 2018

DmckPower said:
Wow that's a huge freaking misstep by the devs

The inclusion of kingdom building alone is not a "huge freaking misstep" plenty of people like that mechanic. I think it's one of the better things going for the game as someone who is lukewarm on nnk2 but hadn't given up yet.

DmckPower said:
I was so looking forward to this.It might be a bigger disappointment than FFXV.

Also, plenty of people like XV.

Allyougame said:
So interesting to read the reactions to this and other threads about Ni No Kuni 2, when so many of the Western gaming enthusiast press absolutely ate this game up. Says quite a bit.

Doesn't say anything actually.

Putty · Aug 30, 2018

Biggest disappointment out of all the games bought this year. Hoping DQXI doesn't follow suit.

Opposable · Aug 30, 2018

I hate myself so much that I got the platinum for this game. "Grind" doesn't even come close.

Nimby · Aug 30, 2018

Putty said:
Biggest disappointment out of all the games bought this year. Hoping DQXI doesn't follow suit.

DQXI is a 2017 game, you have more than enough impressions out there.

Yeah, impressions about this game have me waiting for a steep price drop. I'm still interested in playing NNK2 for myself, but I was already disappointed at no familiars.

Tailzo · Aug 30, 2018

I had a great time with it. I'm going to keep it and maybe do a new game + some day.

eXistor · Aug 30, 2018

I iked it okay, but it felt underdeveloped and instead focused its time on boring kingdom building and skirmishes (I was afraid of this before the game was released) Like more games these days, it forces mechanics on you to stretch the playtime to what people expect out of games today and this almost always never works.

I almost never ask for remakes or remasters as I find them completely useless generally, but if we could get Ni No Kuni 1 with the battlesystem of 2 and omit that dumb pokémon aspect, then we could finally have a truly great game in the series. Or just have a sequel that gets it right I suppose.

Dorfdad said:
Where was all this bitching and moaning the first few weeks of the games life? I don't recall anything but praise tossed at it. I bought it for my backlog and now reading this thread I have no desire to play it!!

I remember nothing but criticism personally. The OT was full of disappointed people. On this forum anyway.

Theiea · Aug 30, 2018

Reading this thread is super disappointing. :(

I was looking to pick this up, but maybe i'll just snag DQXI instead.

Wise · Aug 30, 2018

In my opinion, yes. I was looking forward to it and it ended up being one huge disappointment.

Monster Zero · Aug 30, 2018

My instincts told me it would be lame when I first saw Evan. Roland being the U.S president solidified it. Almost pulled the trigger and bought a code off CD Keys, im glad I didn't.

ShiftyHermit · Aug 30, 2018

I found it to completely lack the charm of the first game, couldn't bring myself to finish the game.

So disappointed in it.

Tibarn · Aug 30, 2018

It is, the worst game I've played in a long time.

There's nothing especially bad about the game, like some big QoL problem or really bad pacing (that were the problems I had with Xc2 and P5, two of my favorite recent JRPGs), but there's nothing good either. The game has charming graphics, beautiful towns, and a really good Spanish localization... and that's that.

The story is bland and uninteresting, the character development is poor, the combat is simplistic and repetitive, there's no depth in the kingdom building mechanics, most characters share the same skills, the water arc is basically a stupid plothole, the music is really poor (Hisaishi basically did 3 re-arrangements of the first game main theme and the town songs)... And there's a serious lack of cutscenes and voice acting.

It feels like a mid-budget game that used the money in a really bad way, prioritizing the visuals instead of offering a more balanced experience.

electroaffe · Aug 30, 2018

One of the worst JRPGs I ever played. The story doesn't make any sense and the gameplay is poorly balanced and boring. The best part is the kingdom builder mobile f2p game clone because it's at least somehow fun and addictive in a primitive way.

I think the first game was a bit overrated but at least it was a decent game. NNK2 is just a huge disappointment.

SprachBrooks · Aug 30, 2018

The chibi style and the kingdom building bullshit totally put me off the game, and I was hyped for it after enjoying the first one.

hongcha · Aug 30, 2018

I thought it was great fun from start to finish. The first game was great fun too.

Blade24070 · Aug 30, 2018

I only played two games released this year, Ni no Kuni 2 and Detroit. Detroit shits on this game from a great height imo. And I loved the first game.

R.T Straker · Aug 30, 2018

Yeah it's pretty terrible.

ara · Aug 30, 2018

Hell yes, though I did prefer it to the first one.

It being stupid easy was probably my biggest problem with it during the 8-ish hours I played it though, so I might give it another try later on. Heard they patched in a hard mode.

Raijinto · Aug 30, 2018

This is what I wrote in the OT upon completing the game:

Raijinto said:
So I just completed the game. 31 hours or thereabouts.

Pros

+ The art style is great, when exploring the kingdoms that aren't Evermore and in cutscenes and combat at least. Bright, colourful and great.
+ The combat system was good. It had options, felt quite satisfying at times and I never got bored of it despite the fact I killed well over 2000 enemies.
+ Boss or bosslike encounters were mostly great. These include the end of chapter bosses and the tainted monsters. Some actual challenge and was the combat at its best.
+ The story is whimsical and charming and cute at times. Some cool scenes. I like Goldpaw and Ding Dong Dell chapters.
+ The kingdom building has its moments. It has been satisfying to see it evolve and grow through the game and I like the subtle benefits it provides.
+ I liked Roland and Tani out of the main cast. Evan was... OK.
+ The skirmishes were good.
+ Some of the music is great.

Cons

-The overall lack of challenge. Like this game has a lot of nebulous 'content' that looks good in a list, but the lack of meaningful challenge to basically everything aside from boss encounters and a couple of difficulty spikes makes a lot of it redundant. I had an overall easy time with the game, and I didn't grind, improve my weapons or armour or spells or Higgldies or gain anything from a blue chest. I mean what's the point? I was already breezing through everything, so the 'rewards' in the blue chests and unlocking weapon skills and upgrading spells and so on would only serve to exacerbate that main issue. Along with the fact that there was no depth or satisfaction to any of it, heck I didn't even equip a lot of fantastic drops I got from enemies immediately because I needed to create my own challenge. It is a massive issue of the game.
- The beginning of the game is by far the worst- just this game at its most basic and boring.
- Mostly terrible sidequests.
- Kingdom building has its own issues- only one way to view it, only one (albeit cool how it changes) piece of music that plays, everything already set in certain places and I've never been big on these timer/busywork systems anyway and this didn't change my opinion of them. Far from an excellent system despite being specifically referred to as what was being improved during the 2 delays.
- The overworld design really is bad. I don't mind the chibi characters and in the skirmishes but my god I can certainly do without walking through those forests and whatnot basically forever again.
- The story is meandering and really simplistic a lot of the time- and it's not helped by the lack of cutscenes and voice acting. I really can't explain how and why some of the cutscenes and voice lines were seemingly cut from the game but it just takes shine and gloss of the plot- albeit it isn't a strong skeleton to work with even if the production value was The Last of Us tier. A lot of the characters were boring, the Hydropolis arc was nonsense and Broadleaf wasn't much better and the ending was very eh. The reveal at the end is just silly to me.
- It didn't really feel like Ni No Kuni 2 as I expected it to be a lot of the time. The changes from the first game are vast and in my opinion too vast as there are only threadbare and minuscule connections to the first game- there's shaking up the formula and going in a different direction and all but... this game really didn't want much to do with the first game and I don't like it.
- The 2nd main continent is conspicuously barren and empty compared to the 1st. Really cemented the possibility to me that the game was not finalised in a way that was originally envisaged, along with the lack of cutscenes.
- Lots of enemies that are reused in different colours. And the enemy design overall is mediocre- I really dislike the goo and fairy enemies.
- No involvement from Studio Ghibli. I don't know if their involvement in the first game went beyond making the cutscenes that they did and into the overall plot and/or character design and characteristics, but WotWW had a certain je ne sais quoi that I feel was down to Ghibli that the sequel does not have. Despite the fact that this game is a generation and 5 years after the 1st the overall style and presentation feels... nicer for lack of a better word in the PS3 game. I'd be all for a PS4 remaster for a better comparison in this way between the two.

Whew. That's a lot of words and I've probably forgotten things too. It's a... good game. I enjoyed it despite those big problems but I definitely understand why it's divisive.

I have not gone back to the game since so I'd say these are still my accurate opinions, albeit the addition of difficulty options is good to hear but way too late for me.

A huge disappointment? Maybe, maybe not, it's still a game I'm glad I played but yeah there is just so much bad in the game overall.

I'm also very disappointed at this thread in how it highlights an issue with this forum- quite a few people who are overly defensive of this game are too eager to throw people into one group of people that are out to get this game or something. Well I can say that I for one am not that- I adore the first game and still like the sequel but I don't at all care for these generalisations and accusations.

Also my one final disappointment re NNK2 is definitely the season pass. Like why the heck did I buy that thing lol what a waste of time.

Vault · Aug 30, 2018

The name Level-5 on the box should have clued people in that it would be shit

Yautja_Warrior · Aug 30, 2018

For me, it wasn't as good as the original but I still enjoyed it.

It had an old PS2 RPG feeling to it, which I found made it feel a little dated in places but it's far from a bad game. I'm looking forward to the expansion DLC now, the free Adventure Pack was a good start.

Deleted member 18347 · Aug 30, 2018

Damn :(

I have the game and will fire it up it one of these days. At least the music is great, right?

Taruranto · Aug 30, 2018

SageShinigami said:
Metacritic reviews put this game at an 84. Metacritic users put it at an 81. Those are really close, so I'm actually going to go with this being a case of ERA, as usual, not knowing what the fuck it's talking about.

There are multiple people in this thread highlighting and explaining their issues with the game, how the heck do you dismiss them with "They don't know what the fuck they are talking about".

Especially when video game journalism is generally know for being awful and basically an extension of the marketing team, I certainly don't feel like I know less than these supposed "experts".

Jobbs · Aug 30, 2018

I'm not sure. I loved the original, but the sequel's lack of any challenge at all made it boring pretty quickly and after having my suspicions confirmed by others I stopped playing. If it presented a more interesting challenge I might have stayed with it and enjoyed it. It has fun combat mechanics and nice visuals.

I wish they didn't change the formula so much, though. I liked the uniqueness of the original

TheCrackedJack · Aug 30, 2018

I have to agree. As Shania Twain once said, "That don't impress me much."

DodgeITA · Aug 30, 2018

Huge disappointment here. The story is so stupid and nonsense that I felt that the game made fun of me in every dialogue and cutscene. A real shame, the first game is one of my favorite last gen jrpg.

Elven_Star · Aug 30, 2018

The real question is how it got the scores it did. I demand an investigation.

Tibarn · Aug 30, 2018

Continuum said:
At least the music is great, right?

No! The music is pretty lacking aside from the town themes and the re-arrangements from the first game main theme. The game reuses lots of compositions, and some of them (cave theme/dungeon theme) are boring. I think that NNk2's is the worst OST Joe Hisaishi has ever created, and the lack of variety is even worse.

ffvorax · Aug 30, 2018

The most disappoint thing for me was the story and chars.
Gameplay is ok, I liked the previous one and this one.

Yes there is some Skirmish and gathering, but nothing so bad after all.

SpokkX · Aug 30, 2018

Gave up after 10 hours - It was an awful game imo

Great graphics though

60fps · Aug 30, 2018

Guys, help me on this: I haven't played NNK2, but I've read so many times how bad it is - yet it got high praise and scores in most reviews. Why?

Sometimes I find it hard to believe there can be such a huge gap between reviews and player reception.

Deleted member 18347 · Aug 30, 2018

Tibarn said:
No! The music is pretty lacking aside from the town themes and the re-arrangements from the first game main theme. The game reuses lots of compositions, and some of them (cave theme/dungeon theme) are boring. I think that NNk2's is the worst OST Joe Hisaishi has ever created, and the lack of variety is even worse.

Fuck, music was the only thing I thought was guaranteed quality.

I guess I'll know for sure once I play the game, but that sounds pretty bad.

PsychoHydro said:
Guys, help me on this: I haven't played NNK2, but I've read so many times how bad it is - yet it got high praise and scores in most reviews. Why?

Sometimes I find it hard to believe there can be such a huge gap between reviews and player reception.

I'm kind of shocked actually. I thought it was just a pretty good, albeit flawed sequel that flew under the radar. A similar situation to Deus Ex Human Revolution -> Mankind Divided.

As someone mentioned earlier, NNK2 even has a high user metascore. While review scores don't mean shit by themselves, it's very rare to find a lackluster game get high scores from critics and fans alike.

This could be one of those cases.

Tibarn · Aug 30, 2018

PsychoHydro said:
Guys, help me on this: I haven't played NNK2, but I've read so many times how bad it is - yet it got high praise and scores in most reviews. Why?

Sometimes I find it hard to believe there can be such a huge gap between reviews and player reception.

I feel the same, I tried to understand how the reviews were that positive, most of them simply didn't mention the game flaws or the lack of anything interesting I felt while playing. I mean, some people can like the game, but every time the reviews from a game are that disconnected with what I play I lose some faith in the videogame press, which is kind of sad tbh.

NNk2 is the worst example in recent memory, the game scored like most recent good JRPGs, which I think is stupid.

vhoanox · Aug 30, 2018

The first Ni No Kuni so charming why not build on that instead added layer and layer of useless gameplays and completely abandoned any interesting plots after 1 hour.
The game is quite fun but omg the characters are so dull.

Cyber6x · Aug 30, 2018

+1 for loving it.

The combat from the first game I found to be incredibly hard to use, not really working as a hybrid of turn-based and real time.

Ni No Kuni 2 goes straight for action RPG and I love it for it.

The story is simple, but that's the kind of thing you want from a charming adventure that stars such a young protagonist.

Reviews were totally right with this one, in my opinion.

Slacker247 · Aug 30, 2018

I feel like this and P5 the year before were treated more favourably in media reviews than user reviews. P5 fares better overall, but frankly, I enjoyed my time more with NNKII. Sometimes a basic as basic can be story for a 5 year old is better than something that just keeps on going...and going....and going...

matrix-cat · Aug 30, 2018

Not necessarily a disappointment for me, since I'd never played the first and didn't really have high expectations, but a thoroughly mediocre game to be sure. I got about ten hours in and was already sick of the "I'll help you if you complete these three tasks for me" game design, and the only story thread I was interested in (Roland) didn't look like it was going to go anywhere. The main story wanted me to fight a big skirmish that I was underleveled for because I had no interest in that system, and I wasn't interested enough to keep going.

Manac0r · Aug 30, 2018

I thought I was the only one... like something was wrong with me for not liking this game.

Echoing other sentiments from the thread but found the whole story immature and babyish not just in content but delivery.

Combat felt mindless and I did not the enjoy the skirmishes mode The game was not for me, and as I purchased it digitally, I have no option but to leave it in my library and carry on...

This game received glowing praise from a few sites I trust, so I acknowledge it must have some appeal but alas not my cup of tea.

Tibarn · Aug 30, 2018

Kanann said:
They shipped review copies with weed or drugs or something?

If there's some drug out there that can make NNk2 a great game, please send me a lot of it, it will improve my gaming life a lot.

Acquiescence · Aug 30, 2018

I'm about to start playing this today. Big fan of the first game. Fingers crossed!

oh boy am i disillusioned after scouring this thread

Joker13 · Aug 30, 2018

man, thinking about it, NNK1 shits all over this from the highest highs

tiebreaker · Aug 30, 2018

Acquiescence said:
I'm about to start playing this today. Big fan of the first game. Fingers crossed!

oh boy am i disillusioned after scouring this thread

At least your expectations have been tempered. Go with the harder difficulty.

Numberfox · Aug 30, 2018

Note in advance that I haven't played either game in the series, I've only watched and heard a lot of people's impressions, but these are my 2 cents. I think a game can still be a disappointment to many while still being a decent game. In a vacuum, NNK2 is a decent JRPG that decided to do different things from its predecessor, which is fine on paper. The issue that arises is that one of the biggest selling points of the original was the Studio Ghibli animation and story, so many fans walk away disappointed in a sequel that doesn't have those qualities. I think the game's fine, especially for those who enjoy the new gameplay mechanics, but the original NNK was just more amazing for some people.

Flevance · Aug 30, 2018

DmckPower said:
While the main game itself is beautiful, the world map and chibi models are ugly!he skirmish mechanic makes use of those two things. Is the game gonna have a ton of those things ? I don't wanna be spending hours on that world map.

No, they're all optional after the tutorial one as far as I remember

There's some bad and good stuff about this game (well, like any other) and I honestly found this one of the good things actually.. and while I'm also overall disappointed of this game, I honestly liked it and enjoyed it. One of the things I disliked earlier in the game was how easy it was in combat, but later on.. because how easy it was I didn't have to waste time on grinding which what I hate most in JRPGs

Wambo · Aug 30, 2018

Dropped the game a few hours in because it just couldn't grab me. Kinda sad, because I liked the first game.

doemaaan · Aug 30, 2018

Wow, these responses are really surprising. Guess I'll bite when it's under $20. I still wanna give it a shot.

SageShinigami · Aug 30, 2018

Taruranto said:
There are multiple people in this thread highlighting and explaining their issues with the game, how the heck do you dismiss them with "They don't know what the fuck they are talking about".

Especially when video game journalism is generally know for being awful and basically an extension of the marketing team, I certainly don't feel like I know less than these supposed "experts".

The thing is...most of you haven't even bothered to read the reviews in the first place. You just label the game as garbage and wonder how they could get it wrong.

You're not even listening to the people who said they enjoyed the game, either.

Is Ni No Kuni 2 a huge disappointment or what ?

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