5 Reasons Why Ni No Kuni II Should Be Circled on Every RPG Fan’s Calendar

Gorgeous Anime Art Style

The first Ni No Kuni was a delicious treat for the eyes, sporting the gorgeous hand-drawn anime style of Studio Ghibli. While Ghibli may not be working on the second game, Level-5 has kept a similar art style, and it sure looks impressive.

The entire game sports a 2D-style anime look, something that Level-5 has intentionally done. Plenty of the locations we’ve seen so far look stunning, like the watery city of Hyrdopolis, or the glitzy casino-inspired Goldpaw. A recent behind-the-scenes video released by Bandai Namco details a bit more about the graphical style, and its use of light and shadow. Nobuyuki Yanai, art director of Ni No Kuni II states, “For me, the most appealing thing about Ni no Kuni is the way it brings the charm of 2D animation into a 3D world.”

According to Yanai, the team took time to draw a shadow on every object in the game and automatically generated the lighting, instead of hand-drawing lighting like in the first game. This gives Ni No Kuni II a fascinating look that looks just like an anime in motion. It’s certainly one of the prettiest JRPGs out there right now.

Hugely Improved Combat System

If there was one aspect that was lacking in the original Ni No Kuni, it was combat. Ni No Kuni II fixes that by completing overhauling combat, doing away with Familiars, and bumping up the speed significantly. Gone is the turn-based combat of the first game, replaced by a real-time action system.

You control one of your party members in battle, while the AI controls the others. On its face, the game’s combat resembles something out of a Tales game, with you using a mix of light and heavy attacks as well as ranged magical attacks. You can equip three weapons at any time in combat, and each weapon has what’s called a “Zing” gauge. As this gauge goes up during a battle, the weapon becomes more useful and powerful, and you can swap between your three weapons at any time to maximize damage. Once the gauge is at 100 percent you can use a powerful special move, which will reset it to zero.

The game also has a replacement for Familiars with Higgledies, which almost function like Pikmin in combat. These little creatures follow you in battle and come in different types that can heal you, attack, or do a number of other functions. Finally, a system called Tactic Tweaker lets you edit your party’s tactics in battle and boost certain aspects of combat. You can do things like bump up your strength against certain enemies, or choose whether you want more materials or money from battles.

Ni No Kuni II’s combat is a vast improvement over the first game, and fans of action RPGs should definitely take notice. There’s some interesting tweaks on combat here that make it more tactical, but it’s still a fast-paced system with some sleek animation.

Higgledies

Higgledies may be useful in battle, but their uses actually go much deeper, and there’s a certain kind of collectible aspect about them. The little creatures are certainly cute, and feel like they’re magical beings ripped right out of a Ghibli movie. Outside of battle Higgledies can be used to open new areas out on the world map, or open up new routes in dungeons.

There are actually 100 different Higgledies to collect, and there’s even a number of Hero Higgledies, who each come with their own special attacks and powers. This adds a Pokemon-like nature to the creatures, giving you an incentive to try and seek out new Higgledies. You can also customize the creatures and upgrade them at the kingdom. Experimenting with the different types of Higgledies can help give you the advantage in battle, or open new locations for you to explore.

Kingdom Building Elements

One of the most unique aspects of Ni No Kuni II comes with its kingdom building features. Evan has to rebuild his kingdom from the ground up, and that’s literally what you do in the game. As you travel around the world you’ll meet a number of NPCs that need help with their problems. Help certain NPCs out and you’ll be able to recruit them for your kingdom.

Back at your kingdom you can place a variety of different buildings and assign different villagers to them. Buildings and research can grant you bonuses like new weapons for your party, or improve your exploration skills. Each villager has their own set of skills, and you’ll want to assign the right people to the right buildings. Doing so can bump up the time it takes for research; for example, a 60-minute piece of research can take 45 minutes if you have the right person. A resource called kingsguilder is what you need to build things or do research, but it’s not unlimited. During the course of the game you’ll need to make some choices on what you want to invest in. A recent Kotaku article compares the kingdom building in Ni No Kuni II to the Suikoden series, which is about the best thing a JRPG fan can ask for.

A Colorful Cast of Characters and Story of Redemption

Another aspect of Ni No Kuni II that sticks to its Ghibli inspirations comes with its story. The story takes place hundreds of years after the first Ni No Kuni and follows King Evan Pettiwhisker, the young king of Ding Dong Dell and the cat tribe. Evan is ousted from his throne by the mouse tribe during a coup d’état, and has to take back his throne.

Joining Evan is Tani, the daughter of an air pirate boss and Roland, who in particular is interesting. Roland plays the role that Oliver did in the first Ni No Kuni, as he’s a visitor from another world, where he was the 42-year-old president of a modern nation. For reasons unknown, Roland is transported to Ding Dong Dell as a young man, and he becomes an integral advisor and ally to Evan.

Evan’s tale of redemption helps up the stakes for the story, and Ni No Kuni II’s whimsical characters help give off that Ghibli-esque vibe, even if Studio Ghibli isn’t directly involved in this one.