Farewell....Professor Layton.....

Back in 2008, my favorite developer, Level-5, released "Professor Layton and the Curious Village". At the time, they had only JRPGs for Sony systems in their catalogue, so this was unexpected. Right from the very first minute, I fell in love with this series. Its mix of point and click adventuring and brain teasing puzzle games is still unlike anything out there. But, of course, it wouldn't have been special if it wasn't for the whimsical and touching stories and lovable characters. Over the years, the games have always been some of my favorites. Everything about them is impeccable, but you can always check my reviews for details.

I still stand by the fact that the original trilogy is one of the best in the history of entertainment. Each game expanded upon the previous one to remove any flaws and improve/add to the quality, culminating in the masterpiece that is "The Lost Future", my favorite overall videogame on its console.

The prequel trilogy and the "Eternal Diva" movie carried that level of quality into a more mythical direction, focusing on the archaeological discoveries that made the professor famous. Since we didn't see him do anything archaeology-related in the original trilogy, it was a great way to continue the series without having it repeat itself. It introduced new characters and revealed more about the pasts of old ones. When the second entry arrived for the 3DS, it brought some welcome gameplay variety, but the visuals were a bit on the unpolished side.

And now we arrive at the final game in the series, 5 years after it all started. Is it the grand finale we wanted? Let's take a look:

The Story:

The game takes place a few months after the last game, and as its title implies, it answers questions left open about the ancient civilization of the Azran, which was a big part of the previous game. Joining a fellow archaeologist that has found something that can help Azran research, the professor, his assistant Emmy, and his apprentice Luke set off on a journey around the world to find 5 Azran artefacts that can unlock their secrets. While "Miracle Mask" shook things up in the gameplay department, this game does it in the story structure. In the other 5 games, the story followed a very linear path despite the twists, but now the story follows a structure very similar to certain non-linear RPGs or Adventure games that have various subplots with a chronology that depends on the order you visit the various places. Eventually, you go back into a linear path towards the climax, which is the best since "Lost Future". The writers take full advantage of the fact that it's the last game to pull the heartstrings of fans with lines like "One last puzzle, for old time's sake" and subtle metaphors in the narrative. All the character arcs end with an incredibly satisfying payoff and the final revelations will leave fans blown away by how well crafted they are. The ending leaves us a very positive and satisfying message that really makes any fan feel warm inside. As expected, the game is full of references to the other 5 games, some obvious, some more subtle. The final after credits cutscene in particular is one of the best ideas the writers had, and its nostalgic meaning will leave long-time fans with a big grin on their faces.

Overall, it's a lovingly crafted conclusion. It's not the emotional powerhouse that "Lost Future" was, but you can tell that's not the point. It's a nostalgic, warm and very personal experience for fans. It's like Level-5 conceived this as a love letter to the fans.

10/10


The Gameplay:

Azran Legacy takes the gameplay from Miracle Mask and leaves it for the most part untouched. The variety of gameplay styles is gone, but the airship used to travel the world allows for more variety in the areas you explore, and this time there's a bigger focus on online features. You can collect objects in every area and use them to create puzzle challenges for friends to enjoy. Aside from that, it's the same formula of point and click adventuring and puzzle solving that the series perfected in Miracle Mask. The only weaker aspect is the minigames. They're not very interesting in comparison to the ones in previous games.

9.5/10



The Audio:

Tomohito Nishiura once again brings his immense talent to the table and gives us another brilliant soundtrack filled with warmth and whimsy. The voice acting is sublime, as always; every actor nails his/her performance and sells you on the humanity of characters.

10/10


The Graphics:

Miracle Mask looked quite good, but you could tell the artists were still figuring out how to translate the world of Layton from 2D to 3D. Character models didn't look as good as they should, and the backgrounds looked a bit mundane. Azran Legacy, however, is a whole different story. The new 3D character models are perfect replacements for the 2D sprites. They clearly took great care to make them look as good as they should have looked in the first place. They're also much better animated, full of subtle touches that further help make every character charming. The backgrounds also look amazing. At first they felt like 2D backgrounds, as I didn't think 3D environments could look this gorgeous on the 3DS. It's a shame Miracle Mask couldn't have this level of beauty.

As always, the animated FMVs look fantastic and are very well directed.

10/10

Final Grade: 10/10



And so we reach the end of this 5 year journey. Goodbye, Professor, it was a huge pleasure to solve puzzles with you, travel with you, laugh with you and cry with you. I will forever cherish all those memories for the rest of my life. Thank you.

Fortunately there is a second movie being made, so I know I will eventually be able to see you once again....Surely...Someday:

As for Akihiro Hino and all his staff that put their heart and soul into all these games, all I can do is bow, salute you and clap my hands. You are fantastic artists and you should be proud of what you accomplished here. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Thank you for reading, see you next time ;)

Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies Review

At the same time that the upcoming crossover with Professor Layton was being developed with Shu Takumi himself writing the story, Takeshi Yamazaki(Writer and Director of the Investigations spinoff duology) took it upon himself to create the fifth entry in the series. Yamazaki proves with this one that he is the right man to take over for Takumi. Let's take a look:

The Story:

Taking place a year after the fourth game, Dual Destinies introduces us to new characters including another young apprentice named Athena Cykes who joins Phoenix's agency. Phoenix, Apollo and Athena will partake in 5 cases filled with intrigue, emotion, and comedy.

The story is absolutely fantastic. Aside from the usual twists, character-driven humor and intrigue, there's a much more emotional story being told here thanks to the fantastic new characters, with newcomer Athena Cykes being the standout character. Another great improvement is how the script's logic is miles better than previous games. Aside from maybe 2 or 3 braindead moments, the script always makes sense in the context of the series.

The only problem resides in the second case. It's not that it's bad or anything, but its quality pales in comparison with the rest of the game. Its nature feels very out of place in the game and the fact that it almost has no impact on the main narrative unlike the other cases doesn't help.

But despite that, this is without a doubt the best story in the series. The emotional depth and brilliant writing far outshines the problematic second case.

9.5/10


The Gameplay:

Dual Destinies takes the core gameplay from the previous four games and puts its own twist on things. Aside from the obligatory menu-based evidence presenting and witness pressing, We now have analytical psychology. Athena's ability to detect how a person is feeling when testifying gives place to cool moments where you compare their testimony with what they feel to uncover their lies.

There are also some gameplay refinements, like being able to save at anytime during the game, making the save system work exactly like emulator save states and a dialog backlog keeps the player from getting lost as a cause of how convoluted the plot gets.

With these changes and improvements, it's safe to say this game is also the best in the series gameplay-wise.

7.5/10


The Audio:

The music is made by series veteran composer Noriyuki Iwadare and just like the rest of the development team, he outdid himself. The now fully orchestrated tunes sound fantastic and help enhance the story tremendously. The voice acting is also quite great. Every actor fits his role perfectly, specially veteran Wendee Lee as Athena.

10/10


The Graphics:

Since this is the first 3DS entry, a visual makeover was needed. Fortunately the artists did a fantastic job of turning all the 2D backgrounds and sprites into fully 3D objects without sacrificing a single bit of charm, as the much more fluid animations are still done in the same style as the previous games.

The anime FMVs by BONES(Animation studio famous for their work on Fullmetal Alchemist) are the star of the visual presentation. Brilliantly animated and well directed, they feel exactly like you're watching the fanbase's wet dream of an animated adaptation made real.

10/10


Overall, with a story brimming with emotional depth and intrigue, fantastic presentation and improved gameplay, Dual Destinies is everything an Ace Attorney fan could want and more. It's a brilliant game with a ton of love and thought put into it.

Final Grade: 9.3/10


Join me next time, as i return to the Professor Layton series one last time to review its big finale. See you then ;)

Ace Attorney Retrospective - Apollo Justice

Finally the 4th game in the series was released exclusively for the Nintendo DS. It takes place 7 years after the last game with a new protagonist. Let's take a look:

The Story:

7 years after the last game, Phoenix Wright is no longer a lawyer because of a mysterious case that had him lose his badge. He takes a novice defense lawyer under his wing, who is wondering how his mentor lost his job. The story is of course great, full of memorable characters and interesting twists.
The only downside is that Apollo is too similar to Phoenix personality-wise, despite his interesting past.

8.5/10


The Gameplay:

Using the same engine as the DS remakes of the original trilogy, the game uses the same formula, but this time we get the same touch screen mechanics from the extra case of AA1 DS for the entirety of the game. You examine evidence, dust off fingerprints and find bloodstains using luminol spray.
Aside from that it's still the same basic menu based gameplay.

6.5/10


The Music:

The music is done by various Capcom composers, including Akemi Kimura from "Justice for All" and even the series creator himself Shu Takumi. It's as always great at enhancing every moment in the story.

8/10


The Graphics:

Once again using the same engine and style from the previous games, we have a 2D world filled with great sprite animations that sell the player on the personalities of the characters.

10/10


Overall, Apollo Justice is a sucessful attempt at starting at bringing new life into the main series.

Final Grade: 8/10


All i gotta say is, bring on Dual Destinies Capcom.

Ace Attorney Retrospective - Investigations

As a break from the courthouse, I thought reviewing the first spinoff in the series before the most recent main entry would be nice, especially when you consider its plot takes place before it. While Shu Takumi worked on the 4th entry in the main series, a separate team worked on this spinoff starring Miles Edgeworth, the prosecuting lead character of the series. Instead of being about winning trials, this game feels more like you're playing as a detective, but it still uses the core elements of the series to do it. Let's take a look:

The Story:

While in another country, Miles Edgeworth finds an old acquaintance of his that asks for his help in finally arresting someone who has escaped them in a case that took place seven years ago, and has been found again. He agrees and together with his trusted assistant Detective Gumshoe, sets out to solve this case once and for all.

Once again we have a great story full of twists and turns, interesting new characters and great suspense. Following in the footsteps of the previous game, the main plot is told over the course of all 5 cases, helping the overall pace of it. It is also has the best writing of the series yet. Aside from one particular situation, I couldn't find inconsistencies as blatant as the original trilogy usually had.

Overall, it's yet another great story.

8/10


The Gameplay:

This game still uses menu based mechanics to present evidence during testimonies, but this time we have actual control of our characters during investigations. We walk around and collect evidence and find logic chains, which are ideas that can be combined through the "Logic" menu to come up with new theories or uncovering new evidence altogether. There are no trials, so all confrontations with criminals are done face to face with them somewhere relevant to the case, as a detective.

Overall, it's a fresh change of pace for the franchise.

6.5/10


The Music:

The composer from the previous game Noriyuki Iwadare returns to make the music, and this time he has help by Yasuko Yamada. The soundtrack is the usual catchy fare this series is known for, and it's done just as well.

8/10


The Graphics:

Once again using detailed 2D sprite animations and backgrounds, the game keeps up the appealing visual style of the series.

10/10


Overall, this spinoff is a great addition to the franchise. It has everything that the series is known for while putting its own twists on things.

Final Grade:  8/10


Join me next time when i finish this retrospective by reviewing the most recent entry in the main series: Apollo Justice.  See you then ;)

Tales of Xillia Review

After Team Destiny brought the series back into form with Tales of Graces f, it's Team Symphonia's task to make the Tales' series 15th anniversary game, and this time they have Team Destiny's help. Let's take a look:

The Story:

This game has two main characters: A young man named Jude Mathis and a woman named Milla Maxwell. At the beginning of the game, you can pick who to play, and the story will play through his/her perspective. Both of them accidently meet during a lab accident and end up being chased by the military. After learning of Milla's identity as the lord of spirits on a mission to save the world, he joins her on a journey to destroy a mass destruction weapon made by human scientists.

The story is very good. It starts off slowly, especially on Jude's side, but when it picks up, it gets quite interesting and keeps a good pace. The cast is also quite likable, each having their own arcs explored in both the main story and in side-quests. One thing I particularly like is how subtly the game handles character development. The game does a great job of avoiding character flashbacks and having too much exposition, while still having just enough info about the characters for us to understand their plight.

One disappointing thing about the story and characters is how, with one exception, they don't have the emotional depth that helped make Graces great. This is my biggest disappointment, since I was hoping we would see some Team Destiny elements.

But despite that shortcoming, it's still a very good story with a likable cast.

7.5/10


The Gameplay:

Team Symphonia takes their Vesperia battle system and expands upon it even further. This time, the focus is on the new linking system. Each character can link with another party member, unlocking certain team combos, special partner skills and boost skill sharing. One downside to the linking system is how both members always share status effects, so the player will have to be careful with it.

Our character development system this time around is the Lillium Orb. Every time a character levels up, he gains grid points, which can be used to unlock nodes in a grid reminiscent of FFX's sphere grid. There's always a good amount of choices on what nodes to unlock, which gives the player the ability to unlock nodes for stats he might need first.

It's also quite pleasant to see that there's a bigger focus on exploration than in Graces. There's no world map and the structure is similar to Graces, but the overworld areas are way bigger and full of hidden spots to get cool items. The dungeons also have detours with hidden chests that usually have great stuff. This is a game that rewards curious players for exploring.

The side quests pleasantly take a cue from Graces. Once in a while, a skit will warn you of a side quest. Most of them tell stories of their own that further develop the characters and give us more insight into the world of the game.

My only real problem with the gameplay is the Shop Expansion system. Both in the field and after battle, you'll receive materials that can be turned into exp points to level up each of the four shops, which are always the same everywhere. The only way to buy new items is to level up these shops. Fortunately, the game is incredibly generous with materials. As long as you don't rush through the game, you will probably never run out. My problem is that this doesn't add anything to the game. It's not challenging and it doesn't improve from how shops are usually done anyway. It's just busy work.

One thing I'll admit I'm disappointed in is how there's a lack of Team Destiny elements in the battle system. I still think Graces has the best battle system in the series with more unique, strategic and intuitive mechanics than Team Symphonia's system. It makes me wonder what the point of both teams working on the game was, since 90% of this game clearly screams "Team Symphonia".

Still, the gameplay is fantastic on its own merits.

9.5/10


The Audio:

After a period of mediocrity, I can happily say that Sakuraba has given us his best Tales soundtrack since Abyss. Most of the tracks do a great job of being epic and creating atmosphere.
The vocal song is decent and the voice acting is for the most part very good.

7.5/10


The Graphics:

Finally abandoning their dated visual style from before, Team Symphonia creates appealing and colorful textures and models. The animation is also the best the series has ever had. The animated FMVs are gorgeous as always.

It is worth noting that this was also a collaboration between the character designers of both teams, Kosuke Fujishima and Mutsumi Inomata. As a result, we get very well designed characters.

Monster design is also quite good.

8.5/10


Overall, Xillia is a great game that was clearly crafted with care and skill, even if it didn't quite live up to its potential.

Final Grade: 8/10


Join me next time when we go back to the Ace Attorney retrospective. See ya then ;)

Ace Attorney Retrospective - Trials and Tribulations

While the fourth entry in the series was being developed this time for the Nintendo DS, Capcom released a DS remake of the final game of the original trilogy. Let's take a look:

 The Story:

The story takes place a year after the previous game, and it doesn't disappoint. Aside from cases 2 and 3, which despite their quality, are there mostly for filler purposes, there's a main plot that goes through the entirety of the game and involves a lot of what happened in the past of our main characters. It all builds into an absolutely brilliant final case that is full of twists and turns and serves as a fantastic way of ending the trilogy. Aside from the already expected leaps away from logic during cases the writing is phenomenal and keeps you engaged.

9/10


The Gameplay:

The gameplay is the exact same as the previous game, no differences at all, which works, since it's not really a focus.

6/10


The Music:

The music this time was composed by Noriyuki Iwadare, and succeeds at maintaining the level of quality from the previous games, doing a great job enhancing the story experience.

8/10


The Graphics:

Once again we have 2D backgrounds and sprite animations that create an anime look.
Character design is as always creative, comical and varied.

10/10

Overall, it's the best game in the original trilogy that serves as a great example of why this series is so beloved.

Final Grade: 9/10


Alright, next is my review of Tales of Xillia. See you then ;)

Tales of Vesperia Review

Tales of Vesperia was the last game in the Tales series to be made before both development teams started working together to insure higher quality games. It is also the game the acclaimed Team Symphonia made before the upcoming Tales of Xillia. It is widely regarded as one of the best entries in the series. I personally...disagree. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad game, not at all, but I think it's overrated. Allow me to explain:

The Story:

This game tells the story of a young man named Yuri Lowell, who one day gets arrested for stealing something from a noble to give to his poor friends in town. While escaping the royal castle's prison, he comes across a noble young woman named Estelle who asks him to help her escape the castle. After returning to town, both discover that someone stole an aqua blastia (the town's water source). Both leave the city and set out on a quest for Yuri to find the thief and for Estelle to see the world.

I find this story bad. For the first two thirds of it, barely anything happens aside from long winded exposition about every detail regarding how this world's primary resource, blastia, works, and for the most part, it ends up being unimportant. I didn't really remember it by the end of the game and it still made no difference to me. At the beginning of the last third, a plot twist finally gives us a villain. It's really disappointing, though, as this villain is a character that was barely in the game and has nothing to do with the story; the game just suddenly tells us he's the villain because he wants to take over the world. No build up, no foreshadowing, nothing. This is terribly paced and poorly done storytelling.

As for the characters, they have strong personalities, making them likable enough, but the overly expositional script hurts their development severely, since all they talk about is blastia. At the final third of the game, the story starts pretending their bonds are strong because of what they've been through, but it doesn't work because we never saw these so called bonds grow. Most of the character interaction comes from skits, and they're still not all that good in this game.

Overall, it's a bad story with good, but still thin characters.

5/10


The Gameplay:

This game is the perfection of the 3D Tales formula started in Symphonia. It has the best world map of the series, and the real time battle system from Abyss returns, now better than ever. We still have basic attacks, Artes that consume TP, and the Over Limit gauge, but now we have the "Encounter Link" mechanic. If multiple groups of enemies are in close proximity when a battle starts, the battle will contain all the enemies, which will make grinding for EXP easier.
The skill learning system this time around is taken straight from Final Fantasy IX. Weapons have skills that can be used when you have them equipped, but if you gain enough Learning Points in battle, you can learn them and keep using them even without the weapon equipped. It's not original, but it works.

Overall, the gameplay builds up on the working formula of Team Symphonia's previous games while adding in some new things.

9.5/10


The Audio:

As always, we have Motoi Sakuraba doing the music. After making great soundtracks in previous games, it's disappointing to hear such a bland soundtrack in this game. The tunes are technically well written and I do like some of the battle themes and the victory fanfare, but the soundtrack is too unmemorable and generic to be called anything special. The vocal song is....OK, I guess. The voice acting is very good, we have Troy Baker as the protagonist and the overall cast does a good job bringing life into the characters. Though, sometimes it's hard for them to shine when they have to read the boring script that was given to them.

6/10


The Graphics:

After trying a different visual style in Abyss with negative results, the artists returned to the cel-shaded style from Symphonia. I'm all for that, but very few things were improved to make use of the 360's capabilities. Cutscene animations are...good for a previous gen console, but since this is a 360 game, I was expecting something better than this. The backgrounds also don't look all that impressive either. The game that followed this one, Graces, was a Wii game and it had more appealing graphics and more detailed animations, so what's this game's excuse?

Fortunately, the anime FMVs, once again made by Production I.G, look fantastic as always.

Character and monster design is as appealing and varied as ever.

7/10


Overall, Vesperia has enough good stuff in it to be a very good game, so it's not like it isn't worth playing or anything. But it certainly falls short from the standards Team Symphonia set with their previous two games, mostly because of the story.

Final Grade: 7/10


All i can say is, i hope Team Destiny's assistance in developing Xillia helps to bring us a game that really impresses people. I'm hopeful, since Graces was a great game. See you next review ;)

Ace Attorney Retrospective - Justice for All

After the commercial and critical sucess of the first game's remake, it only made sense to remake the next one, even though it's regarded as the worst in the series. Let's take a look:

The Story:

The game takes place a year after the first game, with all characters making a return, but there are also some brand new ones. For the most part, the new cases and characters are great, but of course the third one has to be addressed. It is still regarded as the worst case in the entire series. The writing, while witty, is very bad when it comes to the actual story progression and the logic of proving the points.
Fortunately, the final case that follows immediately after is phenomenal and more than makes up for it.

Overall, while flawed, the script is still good enough to be up to the series standards.

7/10


The Gameplay:

The game uses the exact same engine as the previous game, and this time there was no attempt at using the DS's capabilities, except for using the mic to object or press. It's the exact same gameplay as the first game, since after all, if it ain't broken, don't fix it.

6/10


The Music:

The music was composed Akemi Kimura, and is pretty much on par with the previous soundtrack.
It always manages to enhance everything you experience.

8/10


The Graphics:

Just like the first game, we have 2D sprite animations and backgrounds that give an animated movie feel. Character design is also on par with the first game.

10/10


Overall, Justice for All is a flawed but still very good game that any fan of this style of game should play.

Final Grade: 7.5/10


See you next review ;)

Ace Attorney Retrospective - Phoenix Wright

In 2001, a game designer at Capcom named Shu Takumi created a trilogy of virtual novels for the Game Boy Advance about courts of law. Its huge sucess in Japan prompted Capcom to remake it for the DS, and this time localize it for the west. The remakes were ported to mobile devices, PCs in Japan, WiiWare and are set to rerelease on mobile devices as HD remakes. The first game I will be reviewing is the DS version of the first game:

The Story:

I won't go into any detail about the story since pretty much anything I say will be a spoiler. You're Phoenix Wright, a young defense attorney who is just now starting his career. The story is great. It has an over the top tone, hilarious dialogue and tons of memorable characters. The trial scenes are always intense and keep you glued to the screen. The cases you will be working on are full of twists and turns, so it's incredibly easy to remain engaged. There are a lot of inconsistencies and huge leaps away from logic that will annoy some people, but the insane nature of the series clearly means we're not supposed to take it completely seriously.

8.5/10


The Gameplay:

The gameplay mostly consists of nothing more than browsing through menus. You present evidence, investigate crime scenes and question people as dictated by the story. The fifth case, which is new to this remake, makes great use of the DS's mic and touch screen for some variety.

The game doesn't require much interactivity, but it does a good enough job of immersing the player in the world of the game.

7/10


The Music:

The music was composed by Masakazu Sugimori and it does a great job at giving the game atmosphere and enhancing the story.

8/10


The Graphics:

This series uses 2D sprites and backgrounds to create an anime movie feel. Character animations are very detailed and give them a lot of personality. Character design is probably what people might remember the most besides the story, as most characters have very weird designs that help make them very memorable.

10/10


Overall, Phoenix Wright is a game that was clearly made to prioritize story, which works because the story is so great. It's a great game that everyone should try.

Final Grade: 8.4/10


See you next review ;)

Dragon Quest VIII - Journey of the Cursed King Review

The Dragon Quest series is pretty much the only JRPG franchise that refuses to change in order to broaden its demographic. No deep scripts, no complex character development, no changes in combat mechanics, no new monster designs, or even a change in key developers.

The overall gaming community doesn't like this, but fans of the series prefer it this way. The series never needed to change and we love it exactly as it is. Around the early 2000s, series creator Yuji Horii personally picked Level-5 to develop the eighth game in the series under his supervision after playing Dark Chronicle. It became one of the best selling games of its time and is regarded as one of the best entries in the series, and, of course, it made the JRPG gaming community aware that Level-5 was a force to be reckoned with. Let's take a look:

  

The Story:

Just like all other games in the series, the story was written by Yuji Horii. This series never had deep storytelling and it doesn't pretend to, either. An evil jester steals a magic scepter from a castle. The power of the scepter curses the castle and everyone in it. The king becomes a monster and the princess becomes a horse. The only one that escaped unscathed is one of the castle guards. The three of them give chase to this villain to try to break the curse. The plot is very simple and the characters are equally simple. It is, for all purposes, a lighthearted story with great British humor. The characters have just enough personality to be likable, except for the main character, who is silent and devoid of any character. See, this is an old school JRPG where you're supposed to pretend you're the main character. Still, it's not as good as the best DQ plots, but it works for what it does, and even then it still has its moments of greatness.

7.5/10


The Gameplay:

It's almost unnecessary to describe the gameplay. If you have any sort of familiarity with old school JRPGs, you know exactly how it goes. It's all here: Giant world map full of places to explore and things to do, tons of side quests, random battles (with a well-programmed frequency), turn-based battle system, dungeons filled with monsters and towns full of NPCs and shops.

The character development system is still the traditional Exp system, but this time around we also have a skill point system. Every time you level up, you get a certain number of points that you can distribute between your character's "weapon" stats, and make your characters better at using certain types of weapons. Let's say you give 10 points to your "Swords" stat: from now on, that character will get a bonus of +10 attack if he's equipped with a sword. Obviously, it's wise to distribute points equally to each weapon stat. We also have a tension system. The command "Psyche up" allows the player to skip a character's turn in order to build "tension", making that character's next attack stronger. By using it multiple times in succession, the character's attack will do more damage and, if you're lucky, put that character in a state of high tension, where he/she becomes incredibly strong.

Overall the gameplay is basically brilliant in its simplicity.

10/10


The Audio:

As always, the composer is Koichi Sugiyama, the godfather of gaming music. This is the first game in the series to have an orchestrated soundtrack, and it is done beautifully. All songs are memorable and create a great sense of adventure and atmosphere. The British voice acting is also very charming thanks to Level-5's trademark quirky, British sense of humor.

10/10


The Graphics:

Using the same graphics engine as Dark Chronicle, Level-5 creates a cel-shaded world that feels like a cartoon and that still looks quite appealing today. As always with this series, legendary manga artist Akira Toriyama designed characters and monsters, and that characteristic charm of his is all over this game.

10/10


Overall, Dragon Quest VIII is what I like to call a game for JRPG gamers rather than JRPG fans. If you need a deep plot with complex characters, stay away, but if you love deep character building, challenging turn based battles and rewarding exploration in a vast world, then put aside a few months in your calendar, and prepare yourself for a rich gameplay experience

Final Grade: 9.4/10

See you next review ;)

Let's talk about Dark Cloud and Dark Chronicle

In 1998, a game designer named Akihiro Hino founded a game development company with the friends that worked with him in his previous company. In order to get the company off the ground, he made a deal with Sony, who would allow him to develop for their upcoming PlayStation 2 as a second party developer under the condition that they would help him establish the company.

Level-5's first game was 2001's Dark Cloud, a dungeon crawling JRPG with combat mechanics inspired by 3D Zelda games. The game also offered a unique building system that allowed the player to rebuild towns and return its destroyed world to the way it was, or as the player wished it to be. With great gameplay and a great soundtrack by Hino's close friend Tomohito Nishiura (who would later become the head of Level-5's sound department), Dark Cloud received critical and financial sucess. The extremely thin story was there just as an excuse for the gameplay, and it's not really worth talking about. Despite being a good game today, it hasn't aged all that well, mostly because of the complete lack of story.

Two years later, Level-5 created a spiritual sucessor called Dark Chronicle, for which Sony gave them more creative freedom and a bigger budget. It took what worked in the first game and expanded upon it, fixed most of the flaws, and added a more developed story. This is the game we're taking a look at today:

  

 

The Story:

This game tells the story of Max, a young man who lives in a huge city called Palm Brinks. No one is allowed to leave for reasons unknown to the inhabitants. Max, who dreams of going out to the world to find his lost mother, manages to get out one day. After that, he realizes the cruel truth: The world is now an empty wasteland. Shortly after that, he meets Monica, a girl from a hundred years in the future, who has come to Max's time on a quest to prevent all this from ever happening. Both of them join forces to stop the one responsible for this and restore the world to it's former state.
The story is very good, with a good amount of heartfelt moments and great payoffs to each subplot.
It is not without its flaws though. Max is a great character, but Monica barely gets any development. She has enough personality to make her likable, but she needed some backstory. The biggest strength of the story, however, is the characters you meet throughout the game's eight chapters. Most of them are quite charming and have really good stories of their own to tell.

It is a story with its share of problems, but what works really works. Also, since it's Level-5's first attempt at actual storytelling, I think it deserves a bit of slack..

7.5/10


The Gameplay

Dark Chronicle is a dungeon crawling JRPG, so most of the time, you will be battling monsters in a dungeon. The combat is very reminiscent of 3D Zelda games. It all takes place in real time and you can lock on to enemies, but you have only two primary means of attack: A short-ranged weapon and a long-ranged weapon. Each enemy is weak against one of them, so it's up to you to figure out what to use. Combat also involves guarding and dodging against incoming attacks and using one of three battle items to heal yourself or do damage. Both Max and Monica have their own alternate ways of attacking. Max has a robot that you can build yourself, with various weapons. It is very effective against machine monsters and required for a later boss battle, so I recommend putting work into it. Monica can turn into monsters and communicate with them to find stuff, and you can also level up your monster forms for alternate ways to fight. After you finish off all monsters in a dungeon floor, you can play a minigame reminiscent of Mario Golf that can grant you rare items. Outside the dungeons is where you will find more variety. You can take pictures of anything you find and use them as ideas in an invention system. Through this system, Max can invent various items like an aquarium that allows you to breed fish, which you can catch yourself in the fishing mechanic that becomes available when you get a rod. There also various NPCs in Palm Brinks, each with their own side-quests.

But, of course, we have to talk about the most unique feature of Dark Chronicle: World Rebuilding. In order to create a better future for everyone, you need to use the Georama system to repopulate the world. In dungeons, you can find Geostones, which give you information on what to do to rebuild civilization and how to make town buildings, trees etc.  Following a list of tasks, you need to create cities and bring people from Palm Brinks to them in order to restart the chain of time for that place. Do that and you can change the future and find out how much of an impact you're having on history.

The only real problem I have with the gameplay is that the dungeons have way too many floors. Aside from golf, combat is the only thing you will do in them, so the dungeons can feel drawn out.

Overall though, the gameplay is fantastic, mostly thanks to the big amount of variety.

9.5/10


The Audio

Level-5's musical guru, Tomohito Nishiura, made the music. Even back in his early career, he already had his trademark style more than formed. The accordion tunes coupled with strings create a great atmosphere and do a great job of enhancing the story. The vocal song "Time is Changing" sung by Barbara Cohen is quite soothing and really catchy. The voice acting is also pretty good, especially for its time.

9/10

The Graphics

As usual with Level-5, we have cel-shaded graphics that create an animated movie feel. The animations are pretty good and there's full lip-syncing. There's also quite a lot of attention to detail, like Monica's hair and Max's necklace moving realistically depending on their motions during gameplay and cutscenes. Character design is also quite charming and very reminiscent of fairy tale characters.


9/10


Overall, Dark Chronicle is a beautiful gem that offers a unique take on the genre that is still unlike anything else and remains one of the best games on the console.

Final Grade: 9/10

It's been years since this game came out, and fans still hold out hope for a third game. There are fansites, forums and a facebook dedicated to make Level-5 aware of how much they want it. Me? I would definitely be interested in a third game, but Level-5's following games would prove even better than Dark Chronicle, so at this point anything they make will be fine with me, as I know it will be amazing.

Professor Layton Retrospective - The Miracle Mask

Following Specter's Call, Level-5 started development on the next game in the series. It started out as another DS game, but after looking at a developer kit of the Nintendo 3DS, Akihiro Hino decided to order development to start over from scratch to take full advantage of the new console's capabilities.
The result is Miracle Mask, the first of the 2 Layton games on the platform. Let's take a look:

The Story:

One day, the Professor receives a letter from Angela Ledore, a woman he went to high school with.
In it, she asks for help. Her city, Monte D'Or, is being attacked by an individual known as the Masked Gentleman, who apparently can perform terrible miracles. Layton, Luke and Emmy arrive at Monte D'Or just in time to see the Masked Gentleman turn half the people in the City Plaza into stone. It's up to the Professor to figure out who is this man and what is he after. The story is as expected absolutely engaging. In this game we get to see Layton's past in detail and how he became the perfect gentleman we all know and love. It's got tragedy, humor and intrigue all the way through, culminating into a heartwarming climax that you would have to be very bitter not to love. The "Episodes" menu from Specter's Call returns with extra cutscenes that further develop the story and the characters, and this time they all get unlocked as you go through the story.

Overall it's yet another wonderful tale of mystery that will engage you like few stories in games can.

10/10


The Gameplay:

Taking advantage of the capabilities of the 3DS, the game now gives you a new control scheme to explore the 3D environments. This time, you have an actual cursor, like in a point and click adventure game that you drag around by using the touch screen. It allows for 3D investigation that wouldn't be possible in the 2D areas of previous games. Another noteworthy aspect of the gameplay is the added variety. At certain times in the game, you will encounter certain different gameplay styles according to what makes sense in the context of the story. I would like to mention the Zelda-like dungeon with 6 floors where you see things from a top-down perspective and solve puzzles reminiscent of Nintendo's action-adventure series. Aside from this, though, it's the same deal we all know already: Numerous puzzles that will test your brain in various ways.

Overall, the gameplay does a fantastic job of complimenting the story, having variety and staying true to what made this series what it is.

10/10



The Audio:

Once again Tomohito Nishiura gives us a wonderful soundtrack that gives the world of the game great atmosphere, complements the emotional moments of the plot and just has you humming to it.
The voice acting is as always absolutely stellar.

10/10


The Graphics:

Taking advantage of the capabilities of the 3DS, the whole world of Layton is now a fully 3D cel-shaded environment. The characters also now have 3D models, and in some cutscenes are actually fully animated. Some people dislike this and prefer the visual consistency between FMVs and the 2D ingame visuals of previous games. Me personally, I appreciate that Level-5 is trying to fully use the capabilities of the system. The use of 3D is pretty superficial, as it doesn't compliment the gameplay like in other 3DS titles and is just for visual spectacle. It should be noted, however, that this game was a launch title in Japan, and since the artists didn't have any basis to follow, I think they can be forgiven.

9/10

Overall the first 3D entry in the series is an excellent chapter that brings a welcome breath of fresh air into the series while still staying true to what makes it special.

Final Grade: 10/10


It was without a doubt a pleasure to play through the titles of this series back to back, and now the wait for the final chapter of the saga, Azran Legacy, begins. See you next review ;)

Professor Layton Retrospective - The Specter's Call

After the masterpiece that was Lost Future, it would be extremely hard to live up to expectations with another sequel. So Level-5 decided to somewhat start over with a trilogy of prequels that will oficially be complete at the end of this year. It begins with The Specter's Call, which is now chronlogically the first game in the series.. Let's take a look:

The Story:

Back when Layton had no apprentices or assistants, he received a letter from a college friend about a giant specter terrorizing the city he lives in. After being joined by his new assistant Emmy Altava, who was appointed by the Dean of his university without his knowledge, Layton hurries to help his friend. As always, the story is fantastic, full of mystery and heart. One noteworthy addition in this game is the episodes feature, which allow you to unlock certain optional cutscenes that develop the new characters and some old ones. Most of them are unlocked through the main story, but if you want to watch them all you're gonna have to solve all 155 puzzles to unlock the optional ones. It's worth it though. Of course it wouldn't be a Layton story if it didn't end with an emotionally powerful ending right? Even though this one isn't as powerful as the ending of Lost Future, it's still a fantastic ending that makes all the hard work worth it. The characters are also great. Right from the get go, Emmy proves herself a charismatic addition to the main cast and the new villain is a serious threat to our heroes.

Overall it's a fantastic story with great characters.

9.5/10


The Gameplay:

The gameplay is exactly what we expect from the series. It's full of cleverly crafted puzzles for you to solve, puzzle minigames to complete and objects to collect. The city in this game is the biggest in the series yet, so this game introduces various methods to quickly travel to certain places.

Overall, the gameplay keeps the same level of quality that was reached in Lost Future.

10/10


The Audio:

Tomohito Nishiura gives us yet another brilliant soundtrack full of excellent tunes. The ending theme in particular is one of the best in the series. The voice acting is once again sublime and every actor puts their all into giving a great performance.

10/10


The Graphics:

Keeping the exact same art style and sprite animation style from the previous game, the game keeps all of the charm that's a trademark of the series. If it ain't broken, don't fix it.

10/10


Overall Specter's Call is a brilliant game that starts off the prequel trilogy with great momentum.


Final Grade: 10/10

Join me next time when we move to the 3DS where Level-5 mixes things up with Miracle Mask. See ya then ;)

Professor Layton Retrospective - The Lost Future

After two hits in a row, the first Layton trilogy comes to an end with "The Lost Future". It is currently the last game in the series chronologically, as the new, ongoing trilogy is a prequel series. It ties all the loose ends of every sub-plot that started in "Curious Village" while telling its own story. Let's take a look:

The Story:

The professor and Luke receive a letter from someone claiming to be Luke himself from ten years in the future. In it, he requests the professor's assistance to stop the future version of Layton, who has apparently became a mob boss, rendering police useless, and now rules London.
The story is once again fantastic. The time travel aspect is handled in a brilliant way to the point that it creates no plotholes at all, thanks to a specific plot point that prevents that possibility.
The characters are also quite great. We get some character development for old characters, including the main duo, and the new characters are all charismatic and interesting. As Layton tradition demands, it all builds up into an emotionally powerful climax, and this one is even better than the previous one.

Overall, it's a fantastic story with fantastic characters.

10/10


The Gameplay:

This game perfects the formula that was already established in the previous two games. The puzzles are as clever and creative as ever, and all of them use the touch screen brilliantly. The puzzle mini-games are also better this time around, especially one where you have to lead a car through a course that resembles SEGA's "Chu-Chu Rocket". There's also the addition of a Super Hint added to the three hint system from the previous games, which pretty much tells you the answer to the puzzle at the cost of two hint coins.

Overall, the gameplay is the Layton formula perfected.

10/10


The Audio:

Tomohito Nishiura once again did the music and it's once again charming thanks to the European flavor the accordion gives it. I don't find this soundtrack to be quite as catchy as previous ones, but the brilliant composition more than makes for it, as it always fits the context of every situation. The track for the Puzzle Battles in particular is fantastic. The voice acting is once again brilliant. Christopher Miller, in particular, gives a standout performance as Layton.

9.5/10


The Graphics:

Just as in previous entries, the game uses 2D animated sprites to achieve a hand drawn look. The FMVs are, as always, very well made and help the cinematic feel a lot, and character design is still full of variety and charm.

10/10


Overall, The first Layton trilogy stands as one of the greatest ever in any entertainment medium. Each game is better than the last, and it tells an overall brilliant plot.

Final Grade: 10/10


Next time, we take a look at Level-5's attempt at pulling off what George Lucas couldn't: Create a great trilogy of prequels. See ya then ;)

Professor Layton Retrospective: The Eternal Diva

Four days before the 3rd Professor Layton game came out, The first movie installment of the franchise was released in Europe. It was made by Level-5 themselves in collaboration with P.A Works, the company that makes the FMVs for the games. Loved by fans, this is one of those rare good video game movies. The movie takes place after Specter's Call and before The Miracle Mask, let's take a look:

The Script:

Professor Layton receives a letter from Janice, a former student of his who's an opera singer. In it she informs the professor that a young girl claims to be a reincarnation of a dead friend of hers. It's up to the Professor and Luke to solve this mystery. The story is great, as it retains the family friendly but emotionally deep themes that the series is known for. The characters are also very interesting and likable, especially Janice. The script does a fantastic job of being a 1:1 translation of the games into movie format. It sucessfully blends puzzle-solving and adventure without making it feel forced.

Overall it's a fantastic script.

9/10

The Direction:

The direction of the movie is great. The movie deals character moments with great care, action scenes are stylish and epic in scope, and comedy is very well timed. It's incredibly easy to be swept by Layton's lovable world.

9/10

The Audio:

Just like in the games, we have Tomohito Nishiura in charge of the soundtrack. For the first time a Layton story is enhanced by a full orchestra instead of DS synths and it sounds phenomenal. Hearing the series trademark tunes fully orchestrated is a real treat for fans, and the new tracks are equally catchy and effective. The voice acting is, as expected, truly brilliant.

10/10

The Animation:

P.A Works bring the work they do for the games into the big screen and it looks great. All the characters look and move just like in the games, which will please fans. The only problem is the integration of the CG. For the most part it looks fine, but sometimes a cg vehicle can clash with the hand-drawn style.

8.5/10


Overall, Level-5's first venture into the movie business is a smashing sucess. It's touching, it's incredibly fun, the characters are just as lovable as they are in the games and it sucessfully blends all the elements that make the games great into one tight package.

Final Grade: 9/10


Join me next time when we go back to the games for the last game of the first Layton trilogy: The Lost Future. See you then ;)

Professor Layton Retrospective: The Pandora's Box

Curious Village sold 5 million units worldwide and was loved by critics and gamers alike. The Layton character became Level-5's mascot and the franchise is now the company's flagship series.
Since it was originally planned as a trilogy, Team Layton started work on the second game right away: Pandora's Box. Let's take a look:

The Story:

After receiving a letter from Layton's mentor Dr. Schrader about the Pandora's Box, he and Luke travel to his home to find more about it. To their surprise, they find Dr. Schrader dead and the box stolen. It's up to them to solve this mystery, which goes way deeper than they can imagine.
The story is phenomenal, it gets more and more interesting the more you progress through the game, and as in the first game, it all builds up to a wonderfully emotional climax. All the new characters are very interesting and memorable, and the returning ones are just as charming as ever.

Overall it's a wonderful story with great characters.

9/10

The Gameplay:

This game takes the gameplay from Curious Village and refines it. We still solve puzzles to advance in the story, but now there are puzzle-like mini-games like assembling a camera that gives you 9 "Find the differences in both images" challenges and for convenience we now have the ability to take notes during puzzles. Aside from that the gameplay is pretty much the same because well, if it ain't broken don't fix it.

9/10

The Audio:

Tomohito Nishiura returns to score the game, giving us one of the best DS soundtracks ever made. The music is still very accordion-driven and always fits the mood of the situation. Emotional tunes, atmospheric tunes, Ominous tunes, it's all here. The voice acting is again brilliant especially in the climax, and this time there's more voiced in-game cutscenes instead of just the first one like in the first game.

10/10

The Graphics:

The handmade look from the first game returns and is more detailed this time, with more animations and more detailed backgrounds. There are also twice more FMVs than the first game, which helps the story experience a lot. Character design is also like in the first game, and there's alot more variety this time around.

10/10


Overall, Pandora's Box is an excellent sequel that expands on everything the first game did. It's a brilliant game that any DS owner should own.

Final Grade: 9.5/10


Next time we'll do something different: We'll take a look at the first movie in the series: Eternal Diva. See you then ;)

Professor Layton Retrospective - Curious Village

Professor Layton is a series created by Level-5, more specifically its owner Akihiro Hino. As a child, Hino was a big fan of Japan's Head Gymnastics books written by Prof. Akira Tago, and after finally meeting him, he managed to convince him to help him create a series where the player solves the mystery in a detective story by solving brain teasing riddles. Developed specifically for the Nintendo DS, Curious Village takes the player through a string of 135 puzzles.

The Story:

This is a story about the famous detective Hershel Layton and his apprentice Luke Triton. Layton is hired by a rich widow to come to a village called St. Mystere(Yes, you read right) to investigate the disappearence of her husband's inheritance. As they arrive and meet the townspeople both are baffled by how the villagers are obsessed with giving Layton puzzles to solve. As they solve puzzles and question people about the mystery of the disappearence they keep finding incredibly odd things about the town and its mysterious tower in the center. The story, while not brimmimg with depth, is very charming in its simplicity. The game does a great job of keeping the player interested in what is the duo gonna find next. The climax is also very heartwarming, making for a great reward for solving the game's difficult puzzles. The cast of characters is also very charismatic. They may not be incredibly well developed, but they manage to be memorable thanks mostly to the puzzles they give you. Alot of times finding a certain character again makes you remember how his/her last puzzle gave you trouble.

Overall it's a charming and intriguing story with charismatic characters.

8/10


The Gameplay:

The gameplay mixes elements from classic point and click adventures and brain teasing puzzle games. You point and touch the screen to investigate something, talk to someone or go somewhere.
The core of the gameplay is obviously the puzzles. They can be anything from math problems to logical riddles that test your attention skills. All of them use the stylus in some way, some just to pick an answer and others to use it to move objects. They are very well constructed and always make you feel either really stupid or very smart. The sense of accomplishment you get from solving a hard puzzle without cheating is something truly priceless and only adds to the charm of the game. About a quarter of the story mode's puzzles are optional and have to be found somewhere while exploring the village which gives the game replay value. There are also tons of extra puzzles that you can download using the console's Wi-Fi capabilities.

Overall, the gameplay is incredibly addicting and never gets dull.

9/10


The Audio:

The soundtrack was composed by longtime Level-5 composer Tomohito Nishiura. The european feel of the accordion driven music gives the game a very unique atmosphere and the tracks themselves get stuck in your head, especially the one that plays during a puzzle. The voice acting is fantastic and helps bring every main character to life, especially Layton's voice actor.

9/10


The Graphics:

There are very few DS games that look as good as this series does. The in game graphics use 2D sprite animation to create an old fashioned European animation look and the handmade animated FMVs look gorgeous. Character design is akin to British child books and only adds to their charm. It goes to show that you don't need a powerful console to create great visuals.

10/10


Overall, Curious Village is a fantastic game that entertains you with great storytelling while challenging your brain with very cool puzzles, and is a testament to the talent and creativity of Level-5.

Final Grade: 9/10

Next time, on the Layton retrospective, I review the second game in the series: Pandora's Box. See you then ;)

Ni no Kuni - Wrath of the White Witch Review

With games like the Dark Cloud duology, Dragon Quest VIII / IX and the Professor Layton series, Level-5 have established themselves as one of the most talented game developers of our time. They always put a lot of love and thought into their games and it always shows. The Lead Designer, President and CEO of the company, Akihiro Hino, is a huge Studio Ghibli fan and always wanted to make a game with them. It wasn't easy, though, since one of the co-owners, Hayao Miyazaki, doesn't like video games. One day, however, Mr. Hino and his staff went to Studio Ghibli to give everybody there a presentation on what kind of story they wanted to tell, and about the otherworldly feel they wanted the world of the game to have. Impressed by how much passion Mr. Hino felt for his work, Miyazaki decided to allow this once in a lifetime collaboration. Ni no Kuni is a love letter to traditional JRPGs from the golden age. Let's take a look:

The Story:

This game tells the story of a young and innocent boy called Oliver, who finds a magic being called Drippy that helps him open a portal into another world so they can search for something very dear to him. The story is wonderful, masterfully balancing humor and drama thanks to great writing. All the characters have very strong personalities and a lot of charm. As is the norm for a Level-5 game, Ni no Kuni has a very charming sense of humor that cleverly uses plays on words and character traits to get laughs. Throughout the game you'll learn more and more about this new world and the secrets of the people orchestrating its demise. Every sub-plot has a great payoff resulting in an incredibly satisfying narrative.

Overall it's a fantastic story with fantastic characters.

10/10


The Gameplay:

Ni no Kuni is an homage to various famous JRPG franchises. It has the large and explorable world map from classic FF games, a combat system that mixes FFXII with Tales and a  monster-catching mechanic reminiscent of Pokémon. One of its noteworthy unique mechanics, however, is a magical locket. In this world, the villains, in order to keep people from defying them, remove certain emotions from people's hearts, leaving them completely unlike themselves. It's your job to save the people by taking bits of a certain emotion from a person who has it in abundance and giving it to people lacking it in order to restore them to their properselves. This will happen not just in the main story, but in side-quests, too, and it's the primary way of interacting with the people of this world. Speaking of side-quests, they're numerous and very rewarding, as they present you with great items, alchemy formulas and money. One in particular, in which you help the ghost of a dead wizard find out who he was in life, is very satisfying.

But the most well designed aspect of the game might just be the combat system. When you find a monster on the field, you enter into a 3D battle area where you can move freely and run from incoming attacks in Tales style and select your action commands in real-time. Cycling through the menus, however, stops the action like in the old school ATB system from classic FF games. What really makes the combat system great is its philosophy of rewarding and punishing players depending on how well they play. Everytime you use the "Defend" command to block any incoming attack, the enemy drops HP and MP recovery orbs. Exploiting elemental weaknesses deals more damage, and using specific strategies that depend on which enemy you're facing can stun it so that you get time to heal or attack even more. Every time you sucessfully perform one of these tasks, you increase the chance of a golden orb appearing on the field, which unlocks a special attack that deals massive damage. So to sum up: The brilliant combat system punishes players who try to brutally force their way through the game with longer battles, but rewards methodical players by making their lives easier.

The only real gameplay issue I can find is that catching monsters is for the most part luck-based, which makes catching specific monsters you might want more of a hassle than it needs to be. Fortunately,the game doesn't require that you catch more than just a few of them, so it doesn't hurt the experience.

Overall the gameplay is excellent. It's diverse and has a ton of depth while remaining user-friendly.

9.5/10


The Audio:

Studio Ghibli contacted renowned Japanese composer Joe Hisaishi (Known for making music for all of Hayao Miyazaki's movies) to consider working on the game. After also being impressed by how much passion Level-5 had for this project, he decided to accept. Every track in this game is catchy, epic, powerful and always fits the situation it's used in. The music was performed by the famous Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra and it sounds absolutely wonderful. The vocal theme, "Pieces of a Broken Heart", is performed by the composer's daugher Mai in the Japanese version, and Archie Buchanan in the English version. Both of them sound absolutely beautiful. The voice acting is also exceptionally well done. Every actor handles both comedy relief and dramatic moments very well.

10/10


The Graphics:

Studio Ghibli working on the visuals of a video game is basically the dream of anyone who loves animation and gaming. Well, we can stop dreaming, because it's true. The hand made FMV cut-scenes look exactly like they were taken from one of their movies. The in-game cutscenes also look absolutely gorgeous, making the best use of cel-shaded graphics since Wind Waker. As usual with Level-5, there's an incredible attention to detail with character animations, graphical effects and backgrounds, which are absolutely filled with pretty things to look at. Character design is also very Ghibli-esque and monster design is the best I've ever seen. Every monster in this game is charming, cute or just cool looking, which makes it hard to resist capturing them for your party.

10/10


Ni no Kuni is a masterpiece. It's the wonderful result of a collaboration between two studios that are absolute masters in their field of work. If you have ever enjoyed a JRPG in your life, give this game a chance. You'll be doing yourself a massive disservice if you don't.

Final Grade: 10/10


Thank you Level-5 for this wonderful game :)