Higgledie Helpers
A big new feature of Ni No Kuni II, that we got to experience ourselves, comes in the form of tiny little creatures known as Higgledies. The sprite-like creatures resemble Pikmin are dotted all around the world and tie into the story, as well as combat. A Bandai Namco representative described the Higgledies as a “4th party member.” These creatures run around the battle independently, sometimes taking action or setting up chances for Evan. Occasionally, you’ll see a group of them come together and a blue area of effect appear, if you move Evan into the ring you can activate a special effect. Higgledies come in different elemental types, like fire, water, and grass.
Each of these types have a different effect in battle; for example in the battle we played against a fiery dragon boss named Longfang, activating the Higgledies nullified the boss’ fire damage. Meanwhile, activating the green Higgledies boosts your parties’ speed. Even past that, Bandai Namco said the creatures will sometimes take action on their own, attacking enemies or healing your party.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t find out just how collecting the Higgledies works in Ni No Kuni II, but you do have icons in battle displaying the amount of each elemental type. This probably means that you’ll need to collect the Higgledies as you adventure out in the world.
