Ni No Kuni: simple but effective

Ni No Kuni is a vast, lush Japanese role playing game that is a refreshing blend of fantasy, fighting, and fun for any fan of RPGs, anime, or good clean fun. Tragically, with a market flooded with M-rated blood-frenzies, this tribute to imagination and ingenuity may, at first glance, be dismissed by many as trivial or childish.

My advice – don’t.

Don’t let the seemingly simplistic graphics blind you to the subtle beauty in the set pieces or the inspiring imagination infused in every turn – subtle and revealing concepts that leave many shooters wanting.

Don’t let a deceptively elementary combat system of magic and Pokemon-like “familiars” (conjured creatures you control) keep you from ripping into the exquisite, intense symmetry of real-time and turn-based strategy.

And please don’t let the innocent story of a boy and his mother pull you away from the undying heart, spirit and wit ingrained throughout story and characters.

Ni No Kuni tells the tale of Oliver, a bright-eyed, pure-hearted spirit of a youth, wrought with guilt over the untimely death of his mother. While in the throes of mourning, he inadvertently releases and befriends Drippy, the king of the fairies.

This plucky little fellow leads Oliver into a parallel world where an evil djinn, Shadar, has stolen much of the kindness and courage of the people, and holds the secret to Oliver being reunited with his mother. The story is beautifully ingenious with a comical quirkiness added by one of the game’s most endearing characters.

Drippy is one of the best sidekicks of any RPG, lending humour and joy with his Welsh colloquials and sardonic witticisms. Though Oliver is our hero, a boy you come to love for his purity and innocence, it’s Drippy who allows cut scenes and seemingly endless streams of dialogue to come to life. He pokes fun both at Oliver’s antics and the underlying ironies of the story. Still, Drippy brings a balanced humanity to the story as you accumulate the abilities, familiars and companions needed to take on Shadar.

The combat in Ni No Kuni is surprisingly fast-paced, with tactics becoming progressively more intense and complex. The melding of real-time and turn-based tactics means you can move around the battlefield dodging attacks while simultaneously setting up your own strategies. And you’ll need strategy. Once you have your trio of companions and a full compliment of familiars, there will be times when you’ll need to keep tabs on six characters, adjusting your tactics of offence, defence and healing to offset oncoming attacks. This is not a kiddie game. Ni No Kuni provides an intense synergy of challenge and choice, all rooted in a world of mysticism and depth.

Outside of the main quest, you won’t find yourself drowning in a sea of tacked-on side-quests that draw you away from your main task. There is an authentic, unified element to everything Oliver is asked to do. From restoring people’s hope to bounty hunter quests, from the areas and abilities you’ll unlock to the twists in the plot, everything you do helps heal this alternate world and further Oliver in his battles.

The little moments of frustration in the game are minor when juxtaposed with the overwhelmingly impressive skills with which all other elements blend together seamlessly. But to be fair, not all the dialogue is recorded which means extended bouts of reading. This means that lulls in the action and in the story are drawn out even more, resulting in periodic moments of ennui. As well, the unreliable, in-battle AI keeps you busy keeping tabs on companions that should be able to handle themselves. Still, Ni No Kuni creates a human, imaginative journey, combining scores of quests and an underlying depth to provide fun and challenge for any gamer.

When he’s not teaching high school, St. Albert Catholic High School alumnus Derek Mitchell can be found attached to a video game console.