Gamers that found Ni No Kuni 2 a bit too easy can rejoice as the game has recently received a brand new update aptly titled as the “difficulty patch.” Available now on PC and PS4, the latest Ni No Kuni 2 update adds two new difficulty options that not only makes battles harder and longer, but also rewards you with better loot.
Both the hard and expert difficulty options can be toggled at any time in the options menu, which means you can adjust the difficulty accordingly if over-leveled or under leveled in the area you’re exploring. According to the game developers, hard mode “is recommended for keen players of action games” while expert mode “puts players up against truly formidable foes from the get-go, and is recommended for only the bravest of souls!”
I have tried the new expert mode myself and battles with similar-leveled enemies whooped my ass, placing the HP of my party in the red and penalizing me for my old ways of breezing through fights without blocking and dodging. Aside from hitting harder, enemies also have a larger health pool. This means your Higgledies become highly useful not just in boss encounters and fights against tainted monsters, but in regular battles as well. If you’re looking for a challenging game but without overly difficult battles, hard mode seems to be the best option.
Fights completed under the harder difficulty options will reward you accordingly with an increased drop rate of better and rarer loot. This extends to better loot inside chests as well. As stated in the Ni No Kuni 2 1.03 patch notes, “the higher the setting, the harder battles will be, but this will be offset by rarer treasures from monsters, from the chests in the Faraway Forest, and certain other places.”
The update also adds new equipment skills, rarer accessories with a second skill slot, and various bug fixes and balancing updates.
Ni No Kuni 2 is available on PC and PS4. Both developer Level-5 and publisher Bandai Namco have yet to annou
