I didn't like the game either but the reasons you list are BS.

Ni no Kuni is a great game, you should give it another chance...

Only place in the game I thought was really difficult and had me on the edge on my seat, was the purple swamp (was it called Miasma Marshes or something?), that was hard with getting poisoned every 5 seconds.

Edit: The game wasn't perfect though, it dragged on a bit towards the end.

You didn't cast levitate ?

Heh, it was a year ago so I can't really remember if I was stupid or not.

I never claimed to be good, perhaps I'm bad I don't know. I used to be put in many hours on the 360 getting 1000's on games. I don't have time for that anymore so any serious investment in time is not something I appreciate nowadays.

I want to be able to breeze through a game because I have a backlog. That's what the easy setting is for, is it not? Why bother having it otherwise? It's for people who want to enjoy the story. I wanted to enjoy the story but I couldn't because I was forced to grind.

What I am really criticizing are two design choices:

1. Easy should be easy, it shouldn't force you to grind or even die that early in a game. Games that escalate in difficulty are the best designed games. No game should start out by being ball-breaking hard. Game design should focus on easing the playing into the world by raising the difficulty as the game goes along.

2. Resource system. This should NEVER have been tied to main progression. Never. Period. This is inexcusably bad. design. The fact that you need mana to proceed and the fact that you can run out of mana without an easy way to replenish it is just downright wrong.

So, all and all, Ni Nu Kuni is a terribly unbalanced game with some downright broken mechanics.

Lol at Badgenome.

I thought the game was good, maybe great. But I wouldn't go higher than that. I forget how far in I was in but it was more than 15hrs. The story wasn't paced very well, but I thought everything else was well done. It still failed to draw me in so I stopped playing it. I gave it to my younger brother who got hooked immediately and completed it already. He said it was one of the best games he has played on PS3.

I'm not good at videogames, and I found Ni No Kuni to be really easy. Far easier than any Final Fantasy game. Keep yourself healed. Be conservative with your mana. Keep potions stocked. Grind. It's not that hard.

Mana is also super easy to replenish.

look i understand what you are saying u dont have as much time anymore for games and u just want to casually go through the game with not that many frustrations or obstacles i get that. But if yo already have ahuge backlog and cant invest the time needed into a game, than this isnt for u. However i do see u did enjoy lost odyssey and eternal sonata. so i would STRONGLY recommend Xenoblade Chronicles instead far better design choices and less frustrating for u. trust me u wont look at other jrpgs same way again

I would sympathise, but one look at the at the stats of the familiars they give you to do this should show you they are very much physical attackers - if you use their tricks you will run out of MP, secondly, isn't there a way stone at the very beginning of the dungeon (like all the others in the game) where you get healed for free?

As has been pointed out it isn't really a very difficult game, I think I died maybe 4 times at most, usually when I got to a new area in the overworld and got overambitious trying to take on too many battles before going to get healed

If it's not for you then fair enough, though I acknowledge it's not perfect, I'd say it's definitely worth a go trying again, especially because it's very nicely presented

I have to say that there is one basic JRPG rule you disregarded. If you dont have a stable way to regen your resources, you save them until the final dungeon boss. Though i will admit that that kind of design is a classic nowadays. Its not something i would expect to see.