All out casts one skill.  I've already explained in the review how to keep them using magic but not waste it all in two battles.  Equip 3 and 4MP skills.  The difference in damage isn't that different.

Plus, if you keep them at don't use abilities, then they won't heal and you'll have to do all the healing unless you use all defense.  All defense they'll heal once if their HP is low enough. 

By giving them no skills except healing skills, they'll attack, won't waste MP, and heal when required.  The difficulty even with the stupid AI plummets to practically non existant.

I do not think the trophy percentage has anything to do with completing the game. I only have 29% in Ni No Kuni but I beat the game though. I did set in on Easy because the AI was bad. lol!

I loved the setting and the story though, it was completely Studio Ghibli and I could not ask for anything else from Level-5.

Ni No Kuni is one of my favorite JRPG this gen. Its right up there with Tales of Xillia in my opinion and i'm workin on platinum trophy. Hoping for a Ni No Kuni 2!

You continue to trivialize the combat as if Attacking really means that you are just pressing a single button. You are managing which enemy to attack first off(probably the weakest opponents), you are dealing with timings to cancel enemy's attack, you are dealing with alternating to other Familiars when one's energy runs low. Its not just simply "Press X to Attack, Win". There is also the little concept of catching the familiars. not just pressing X to do that now are you? What are you doing when they start Hexing your team members with all manner of stuff? Not just pressing X.

I'm lost at why you would think that every random encounter should force you to utilize every battle tactic in the book. I can't think of a single JRPG where after leveling for a good while you couldn't just bash all there heads in with attack or one shot them with a swift attack. Think about that. Is NiNoKuni somehow committing a gaming sin by not makinging you really struggle for your life with the common encounters? Of course its mostly the boss fights that demand serious skill of you. The game also has many unlockable and explorable areas that amp up the challenge. Ulks for instance are a Familiar with the verociousness of a boss. There is the Arena where they pit you against fairly skilled Familiars who can and will use every tactic you do.

You are demonizing this game for a common nuance of just about every RPG. 80% of random encounters are meant to just be cannon fodder exp vessels.

This Review just gives me flashbacks of Final Fantasy XII and Heavenly Sword all over again. "Just press X to win" and im just like "Sure buddy, lets see that video of you doing that for the ENTIRE GAME!" Proven to be spiteful lies in both games, this one is no different.

DItto this. Currently at about 50% Trophies. Just the collectathon ones left mostly. Also hoping for a sequel. Wouldn't mind a Vita version either so I can have the superior pokemon-esque experience on the go that I have always wanted.

There is a percentage next to each trophy.  The percentage is how many people got the trophy, not how much percentage of the game is complete.  I only have 23% of the trophy list complete after beating the game. 

Not really trivializing when that's how my play through went.  It's an action RPG but there's no reason to move around because hitting x will automatically attack for you  Rarely did you have to reposition yourself so you don't run into your allies. It's giving you the option to do more, but because of how poor the combat is, it becomes repetitious as you don't take advantage of anything because there's no reason to.

Going through Metacritic and here is  some text pulled from a couple reviews.  Seeing that these reviews touch up on the same issues I've noticed the combat system has, kind of pushes towards the fact that maybe the faults are there, they just don't bother you or others who enjoy it enough to pay them any attention.  After all, it's your opinion that you enjoy it, mine that I don't.  You don't have to attack my opinion saying I must not have finished the game or I just don't know how to play the game.  I assure you that I do, I don't just brush aside problems the game has.  You can work around the problems, but it doesn't make the problems disappear, they're still there, they're a deterrent to the enjoyment of the game.  "In my opinion."   

RPGamer
The combat system is a bit more hit and miss. The party members participate in battle, one controlled by the player and the other two handled by some excruciatingly bad AI. Each character can have three familiars that they can switch between at will during combat, and new familiars can be acquired over the course of the game much like the Pokémon series. The characters themselves can also participate in battle, making use of spells and abilities unique to each of them. While the combat system can be fairly enjoyable, especially during the incredibly engaging boss battles, it can also be surprisingly tedious. Normal battles tend to be fairly unengaging, with the most efficient route to victory usually being the basic attack command. Though the game plays host to an impressive number of spells and abilities, the MP costs tend to be incredibly high, and character MP pools are frustratingly small. And with the AI being particularly unintelligent, it's not uncommon for AI-controlled party members to blow their entire MP pool in the first twenty seconds of a fight, especially early in the game.

Gaming Age
The monster gathering and leveling system, which resembles popular Nintendo franchise Pokémon to a certain degree, but also feels akin to Final Fantasy XIII-2’s party system, is fun until you realize that leveling these newly acquired beasts is entirely reliant on grinding out battle after battle. Considering that those battles are rarely engaging or entertaining, it can really start to bog down your enjoyment of the experience if you let it.

*edit*

With how disappointing the action RPG system worked out.  I probably would have rather had the DS version of Ni No Kuni.  For a DS game it looks good.  The combat is turned based with multiple familiars being able to be used by Oliver as early in the game he's at.  Hooray for no horrible AI. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9XzIcJt-xk

An 8.5/10 for me.Very very good jrpg.

I kind of agree with you.

I wouldn´t be so harsh to be honest, but pretty much everything aside from the outstanding presentation was severly lacking .

The battle system just wasn´t fun, I can forgive the story but the sidequests were meh, the mini-Pokemon aspect wasn´t fun (and I´m in love with Y right now, it was the execution that made it not so great)
....meh, 7/10 or 6.5/10 from me

...Ni No Kuni´s horrible monster collection superior to Pokemon ?

Absolutely not !