It’s a shame that the same creativity wasn’t extended to the dungeons which are serviceable but uninspiring there’s a trend in many JRPGs towards dungeons which are trails of corridors, and Ni no Kuni falls into this trap. Another favourite of mine is Hamelin situated underground for protection against the harsh environment, it is a city of mobile tall-houses, mounted on wheels so the city can be manipulated at will. The scene is a pastoral heaven, straight out of Kiki’s Delivery Service or My Neighbour Totoro. Take the starting city of Ding Dong Dell, for example as you walk through the gates you find yourself among narrow streets with houses crowding above you and townsfolk chattering around you. The towns in Ni no Kuni in particular evoke a sense of soothing nostalgia in me. Plenty of JRPGs have anime-esque visuals but the end result of the collaboration between Level-5 and Studio Ghibli is one of the prettiest and visually stunning games in the genre Ghibli are, after all, known masters of their art and their influence on Ni no Kuni has produced something truly magnificent. Ni no Kuni features traditional animated sequences worked on by both Level-5 and Studio Ghibli, while the 3D graphics are clearly built to replicate them. The first and most striking detail which players will notice about Ni no Kuni is the involvement of Studio Ghibli.

Released Nov 2011 | Developed: Level-5 | Published: Namco Bandai Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch (PC, PS3, PS4, Switch)

That environment and context can make an audience much more amenable to a game, and makes it easier to look past faults, but was Ni no Kuni any good, or was it simply helped by its situation? Sure there were some greats here and there, largely it felt like the magic was waning so, when a game like Ni no Kuni came out, it was like a breath of fresh air in an otherwise largely barren space of mainstream major release JRPGs. However, while subsequent generations certainly had their share of excellent games in the genre, I feel like things tailed off slightly by the time we hit the PS3. The NES, SNES, PS1, and their contemporaneous handhelds were absolute goldmines of fantastic JRPGs, and growing up I happily devoured as many as I could get. I have great memories of the JRPG heyday.

Golden glims ni no kuni 2