Member the games you used to play? We member. The basement at the Hardcore Gamer office has a section known as the Crust Room, with an old grey couch and a big old CRT TV. All the classic systems are down there collecting dust, so in an effort to improve the cleanliness of our work space, we dust off these old consoles every so often and put an old game through its paces, just to verify everything stays in working order. We even have a beige computer with a floppy disk drive.
Ni no Kuni: Dominion of the Dark Djinn sounds like an upcoming installment in the Ni no Kuni franchise, but nothing could be further from the truth. It’s a 2010 Nintendo DS game that was only released in Japan. The following year, a heavily-enhanced version was released for PlayStation 3 in Japan, renamed Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, and in 2013 it received a western release. I wasn’t following this game that closely when it came out, but not long after launch it was on sale at Target for twenty bucks and looked interesting enough to check out for that price. To say it was worth that price is underselling it,Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witchis a gem within the PlayStation 3 library.
The tale begins with a child named Oliver. A resident of Motorville, he and a friend are trying out a new vehicle. Things don’t go well, and their first attempt at joy riding Oliver ends up almost drowning in a lake. Oliver’s mom Allie rescued him, but dies almost immediately after due to heart problems. Oliver is stricken with the grief of losing his mom and the guilt of him being the cause of it. A toy that his mom gave him suddenly comes to life and reveals himself to be a fairy named Drippy. Drippy tells Oliver he is from another world that has been taken over by the evil wizard Shadar. He proceeds to tell Oliver that each person of his world has a soulmate in Oliver’s world, and Oliver’s mom bore a strong resemblance to the great sage Alicia.
The new world is very different from the one which Oliver calls home. He sees that many people are broken-hearted as a result of Shadar’s magic. But in this world Oliver is able to use magic, which he can utilize to restore the lacking pieces of heart to those affected. He ends up making new friends Esther and Swaine who join him in his travels. Before long Oliver finds himself in a grand adventure in a world taken from a fantasy novel, battling powerful magic beings, traveling through time and amassing an army of monsters Ash Ketchum could only inspire to catch.
Overly Familiar
Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch is an action RPG. There’s a linear story to follow, but the player is free to explore the open world and address the main objectives at their leisure. Depending on the current objectives, Oliver will find himself traveling between his own world and Drippy’s world. Initially, Oliver and company have to travel by foot all over Drippy’s world, but eventually they gain access to a boat and a flying dragon. During battles, the player takes control of one of the characters or their familiars to issue battle commands while the other party members do their own thing via AI.
Familiars are tamed monsters that the player collects and can be a wonderful asset in a fight. The familiars gain experience alongside their human counterparts, and like their masters, each familiar has a specific set of abilities. Giving them treats and items is a way to increase their power, and caring for familiars to maximize their potential is just as important as making sure the human characters are properly equipped and at appropriate levels. Acquiring and training familiars can be an enjoyable part of strategizing for Ni no Kuni, but there are limits to how entertaining this aspect of the game can be.
The drawback to the familiar system in Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch (and this is not unique to this game) is that getting specific familiars can end up being a huge grind. In games like this I consider myself a partial completionist. This means that the intention is to collect every possible familiar and do all the optional content, but sometimes the battle between patience and boredom goes in a direction where this does not actually happen. This is ultimately what occured with Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, at least during my playthrough. One of the few trophies that was remaining required taming 250 species of familiars. How close this goal was to being achieved I can’t remember as it was almost a decade ago when I played through it, but after grinding for a few hours and failing to capture a couple of families that had eluded me, it became time to move on to another game. A guide may send a player to the proper location, but can’t do anything about the RNG.
Review: Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch
It would be remiss to discuss Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch without discussing its animation. From the world map to the character design, this is a gorgeous-looking game. The animated sequences are movie quality, and handled by Studio Ghibli which is known for animated films such as Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away and the feel-good romp Grave of the Fireflies. The artwork produced by this studio fits the whimsical and occasionally depressing tone of Ni No Kuni perfectly on top of being extremely high quality. Unrelated, because sarcasm is hard to convey in an article, Grave of the Fireflies is a great film, but it is not a feel-good romp by any stretch of the imagination.
Dream or Reality?
One of the tragic aspects of Oliver’s quest is after his journey to bring his mother to life, he’s faced with the harsh reality that she will not be returning. This opened up interesting discussions about what the true nature of Ni no Kuni was. Games in general take place in fantasy worlds where it’s accepted that whatever happens there is that reality’s truth. Some people interpret Oliver meeting Drippy and traveling to the other world as a trauma response to losing his mother. After all Drippy was a toy who was a gift from his mother, and him coming to life is a way for his mother to continue guiding him. All the events afterward take place in Oliver’s mind, and his quest to bring his mother back to life are manifestations of the stages of grief before he finally accepts the fact she is really gone. But whether the traveling between worlds happened to Oliver or this was all an elaborate mental exercise to come to terms with his mother’s death, the story of his journey is worth experiencing.
Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch is a stand-out RPG in the PlayStation 3 library. The animation is one of the major attractions, and while it does deserve the attention it receives, it shouldn’t overshadow the compelling story and gameplay. Even though burnout occurs before taming every familiar, Ni no Kuni provides dozens of hours of enjoyment during the completion of its story. Memorable characters, challenging boss fights and numerous side quests are common ingredients in great RPGs which are present during all stages of the game. An aspect that added more power to the story is that Oliver fails to revive his mother. People often use games as an escape from reality and to achieve feats that cannot be done in the real world. Bringing a loved one back to life is something anyone who has experienced loss wishes for, but like Oliver there’s nothing they can do to fulfill that wish. I like to think that even though Oliver’s original quest was not able to be achieved, going through the adventure allowed his process the loss where he can more forward with a purposeful life.
Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch began as a PlayStation 3 exclusive, but has since been remastered and found its way onto many platforms. PC, PlayStation 4, Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S are all the places where interested parties can visit Drippy’s world. It has one sequel, Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom, which is incredibly different from its predecessor, but both games are worthwhile for RPG fans.
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