Ni No Kuni Review

[Anfebious]

I have to admit I agree with you on the battle system. It's quite bland and doesn't have a lot of depth, I think it would have been better if they localized the DS version. That version had a turn based system, who knows maybe it was way better than the action based system from the PS3 version.

Edit: I read through the whole thread  so now I can expand on my post.

The battle system there is no deny it was the weakest part of the game. To be honest I played the game mostly for the story, it was like watching a ghibli movie. Now suppose that the game wasn't in collaboration with ghibli and had an entirely different story. The game would suck hard, it's true! The only thing that glues this game together is ghibli. If it wasn't there you can bet that this game would not have all this praise.

I clocked 60 hours on the game, I did almost all the sidequests in the game. I liked it, but not for it's battle system. I liked the world, the characters and the story. But there is more to an RPG than it's universe if you can't keep the person playing it till the end. And that's what happened to me, I stoped all the sidequests in certain part of the game and went on with the story. Because I really liked the story, but the battle system was really dragging me down. Besides the sidequests in the game where beyond repetitive, they where a nuisance. After you did a couple you knew how the rest would play out.

4.5 can be a little harsh but I think it's alright. I think the game is more like a 6.5 or 7, maybe a 7.5 if you are pushing it. Overall I agree with the OP in that we could have been better off with the DS version. It played a lot more like Pokemon.

Btw this game is not the superior version of Pokemon. At least the PS3 version can't be compared to Pokemon, one is a turn based game, the other one is action based. Besides if you want a similar experiene to Pokemon that is also a turn based you always have the Shin Megami Tensei series.