I got my first hands-on experience with Level-5’s much-hyped PlayStation 3 RPG Ni No Kuni at last year’s Tokyo Game Show; from what I saw of it this morning, not too much has changed. This year’s demo of the game (due out at long last in a few months) is even more beautiful than it was last year — and with good reason, as it’s been developed in close association with acclaimed animation studio Ghibli — but the game itself didn’t hold too many surprises.
As before, it’s still a very simple RPG, clearly aimed at a mass audience rather than hardcore role-playing fans; but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Imagine if Dragon Quest or Pokémon had been developed for high-definition systems and you’re on the right track. Since those series seem content to stick to the world of low-resolution visuals, Ni No Kuni is picking up the slack.
