Ni no Kuni Wrath of the White Witch Remastered

TLDR: Good for Japanese learner(it has furigana)
I am a Japanese learner trying to find the best game to learn Japanese in a fun way. I chose this game because it offers furigana. Currently, I am at the N5 level, and I find it challenging because for every cutscene and dialogue, I need to look up almost everything. It took me 10 hours just to get to the first fight, whereas according to a walkthrough on YouTube, it should only take 30-40 minutes of gameplay. However, I did learn a lot. One thing that is a bit confusing is the fairy dialog, which has a different accent. Overall, it's a really good game for Japanese learners.

Top 10 games for me. I used to watch Stampy play this game all the time. It was an addicting watch and an even more addicting play. 10/10

My favorite game of all time. I played through this about 3 times when it first came out and I'm playing it again now for the first time since then and it's just as fun and cute as I remember. I just love this game so much. I even named my cat Cassiopeia and call her Pea. (Today is her 7th birthday!) <3

Please note that I played this game to about 98 percent completion on the switch, but got it on steam to play again.
Ni No Kuni Wrath of the White Witch is an absolutely fantastic game about love, loss, and friendship. It's such a comfort game for me. From the animated cutscenes by Studio Ghibli to the cute, wacky characters- it's just so fantastic and comforting. From the gameplay perspective, it's great. The combat system is unique and very, very fun. The boss battles are all different. The familiars are a great touch, collecting and evolving them is really enjoyable. And the story, don't get me started. Watching Oliver mature on his quest to find his mother is as heartbreaking as it is beautiful. This is genuinely one of the only game that's ever made me cry start and end.
Overall, Ni No Kuni is a lovely game for casual players and completionists. There's something in it for everyone.

I absolutely love this game, from the story to the lore. I remember watching Stampy play through this and always wanted to try this but i didn't have a PS3 when I was a kid, now with this remaster, I can finally play the game.
The art style is phenomenal and timeless, I mean Studio Ghibil worked on it so that makes a lot of sense lol, the story is heartwarming and nice. The gameplay is generally a 50/50, either you enjoy it or you're not the biggest fan. I actually do like the mix of turn based combat while having the ability to dodge and move around the arena freely, the Pokemon aspect of the game was also great, one thing though is that the game can be surprisingly difficult at times? I wasnt really expecting it from a game that looks like this but it is a good fun challenge. I did have to grind for EXP at a certain point in the game ( When you get the Ship ).
Overall I think its a great game, and I think its absolutely worth a shot, I'd give it a 9/10, (just wish there was more post-game activities or even a dlc)

This is an excellent first game for learners of Japanese. Even if your vocabulary and knowledge of kanji is weak, literally everything has furigana, which makes it very easy to look things up. And even if you don't 100% understand a sentence by looking things up, the story is generally speaking quite self-explanatory fantasy stuff. A thing to note is that some characters speak using the Osaka dialect but that is almost unavoidable in Japanese media, so you'll just have to deal with it. The game is very hand-holdy so you will not get lost or not know what to do next, there was only one puzzle that I just couldn't figure out by myself and had to use external help. Absolutely recommended for Japanese learners.
- Stylistically gorgeous game
- Simplistic story
- Travelling across the world is slow until you gain flight
- Battle system is cumbersome, especially if you need to react quickly to something
- There is never enough MP, you better have a stock of MP items
- Your AI companions are dumb and blow through their MP in like 30 seconds
Frankly speaking I would have never picked this game up if I wasn't learning Japanese. It's hard to justify spending 50+ hours on a "childrens" game if I don't gain anything out of it. And there are real gameplay issues as well. I wouldn't recommend this to general gamers, unless you're a hardcore Ghibli fanatic.
I wish there was a 50/50 option on Steam. This deserves a thumbs up from me for its artistic and utility value, but a thumbs down for its flawed gameplay and basic story. For me, the pure utility value shines through so I will begrudgingly give this game a thumbs up.

Wait, it's just Studio Ghibli Pokemon? And every Pokemon is some animal pun?
I can't really finish JRPGs for a while now, I always lose interest inbetween the mediocre combat and the unnecessary convoluted story. The beautiful studio Ghibli animations, fantastic soundtrack by Joe Hisaishi (which didn't get boring in 50 hours) and overall presentation really kept me going.
I still can't believe how good this game looks, it's 3D and yet looks like the Studio Ghibli animes. Even moving parts like clouds and waterfalls look like they are drawn.
The story is pretty interesting and wholesome in the conclusion, but I kinda hate the libertarian point it's trying to make. If a system is so broken and corrupt that not even the most powerful person in the kingdom can change it, destroying it and rebuilding is the only solution. Of course the only person who thinks otherwise would be a child and even in the story the only way to change it is with fucking magic.
The sidequests are painfully bad. Usually it's a fetch quest, heart magic (which also is a fetch quest), some monster hunt where you have to fight certain monsters a certain way and a few others. I wouldn't mind, but the rewards are way too useful to ignore them.
Overall a fantastic experience and at some point I might come back to catch 'em all.
Time to finish: 51 hours