Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

[Curtiss]

I honestly expected an OST long before now because the game has been out in Japan for a while now, over a year (My only problem with L5, they take forever to localize stuff).

I wouldn't sweat it. Some games just don't seem to get the OSTs out quickly and I've spend weeks just chasing down one song before without knowing the title and only knowing the melody. Fun stuff, that.

[PennyPacker]

Dragon Quest 8 is fairly short unless you want to delve into the bonus dungeon. That being said, it's one of the most amazing games I've ever played and the styles of both games remind me of the other so maybe you could play DQ 8 first or put it on hold until you're done with Ni no Kuni.

This will actually be my 3rd playthru of DQ 8. It's one of my top 5 rpg's of all time so I am a little surprised I haven't played it more. I decided to play it on an emulator this time because I've always wanted to play with a few cheat codes. Nothing too crazy, just 2x skill points so I can mess around with more weapon types. I might add a reduced encounter rate to get through the game a little quicker. My timing couldn't be worse because now I'm really excited to mess around with a few more ps2 games. I'm looking forward to possibly playing Star Ocean 3 or Valkyrie Profile 2 again. But that will have to wait until I finish Ni no Kuni.

[Curtiss]

This will actually be my 3rd playthru of DQ 8. It's one of my top 5 rpg's of all time so I am a little surprised I haven't played it more. I decided to play it on an emulator this time because I've always wanted to play with a few cheat codes. Nothing too crazy, just 2x skill points so I can mess around with more weapon types. I might add a reduced encounter rate to get through the game a little quicker. My timing couldn't be worse because now I'm really excited to mess around with a few more ps2 games. I'm looking forward to possibly playing Star Ocean 3 or Valkyrie Profile 2 again. But that will have to wait until I finish Ni no Kuni.

I can only think of a few PS1 games that rank higher than DQ8 for me and I do think this ranks as my favourite PS2 RPG next to the first Mana Khemia and perhaps Shadow Hearts Covenant, both of which are also insanely fun games and plain insane depending on who you ask. I'm listening to the soundtrack right now and boy, does this give me DQ8 vibes and makes me miss those games of mine horribly.

[Flonne]

I can only think of a few PS1 games that rank higher than DQ8 for me and I do think this ranks as my favourite PS2 RPG next to the first Mana Khemia and perhaps Shadow Hearts Covenant, both of which are also insanely fun games and plain insane depending on who you ask. I'm listening to the soundtrack right now and boy, does this give me DQ8 vibes and makes me miss those games of mine horribly.

Surprising, someone else who likes MK! La Pucelle and the Mana Khemia series are my top 3 in regards to PS2 games.

[Curtiss]

Surprising, someone else who likes MK! La Pucelle and the Mana Khemia series are my top 3 in regards to PS2 games.

I think it's safer to say that a lot of people never got the pleasure of trying out this wonderful game. I kind of went overboard though maximizing my stats to the point that jumping the monsters in the secret dungeon was nearly automatic.

[Flonne]

I think it's safer to say that a lot of people never got the pleasure of trying out this wonderful game. I kind of went overboard though maximizing my stats to the point that jumping the monsters in the secret dungeon was nearly automatic.

Did you ever play the second one all the way through to the dual path secret dungeon? Did you ever beat the final boss on hard? Or normal for that matter? I could barely scrape by at perfect stats and 100% item creation with perfect gear on EASY; it took me about 15 tries on normal even with that, and on hard I'm not actually sure he is possible to beat. He combines a lot of annoyingly difficult elements from both games, like Roxis' card destroyer skill, more cards=more damage (haste punishment, basically), unblockable counters, 1 shots to party with perfect gear...then the fight actually starts once you get him to a certain %, and if you don't win in a certain amount of time that is impossible for me to reach on hard mode, it's no longer possible to beat him due to the way the mechanic he uses works, which, if you haven't fought him, is

Spoiler

he starts destroying HP bars and UI, then eventually fight commands, then finally the entire display which is a game over. That fight is a peach.

Spoiler

then you find out Gunnar beat him 1v1, which is the reason for all the problems in the game in the first place; the Light Mana is just pissed off that Gunnar beat him. Always causing problems, heh.

Still, I actually like the second more, it has my favorite Gotou Yuuko VA job aside from Hiro in Hidamari. Also, no FPS issues; the old school in the first one was barely playable. Some of the best sprite graphics, a top tier OST, fun skills...I wish more people had played it.

On topic though, I think I'm getting Ni no Kuni tomorrow, but it will be difficult to squeeze in actually playing it since Path of Exile is in OB as of last night, and I'm still playing TERA for now...

[Curtiss]

Did you ever play the second one all the way through to the dual path secret dungeon? Did you ever beat the final boss on hard? Or normal for that matter? I could barely scrape by at perfect stats and 100% item creation with perfect gear on EASY; it took me about 15 tries on normal even with that, and on hard I'm not actually sure he is possible to beat. He combines a lot of annoyingly difficult elements from both games, like Roxis' card destroyer skill, more cards=more damage (haste punishment, basically), unblockable counters, 1 shots to party with perfect gear...then the fight actually starts once you get him to a certain %, and if you don't win in a certain amount of time that is impossible for me to reach on hard mode, it's no longer possible to beat him due to the way the mechanic he uses works, which, if you haven't fought him, is

Spoiler

he starts destroying HP bars and UI, then eventually fight commands, then finally the entire display which is a game over. That fight is a peach.

Spoiler

then you find out Gunnar beat him 1v1, which is the reason for all the problems in the game in the first place; the Light Mana is just pissed off that Gunnar beat him. Always causing problems, heh.

Still, I actually like the second more, it has my favorite Gotou Yuuko VA job aside from Hiro in Hidamari. Also, no FPS issues; the old school in the first one was barely playable. Some of the best sprite graphics, a top tier OST, fun skills...I wish more people had played it.

On topic though, I think I'm getting Ni no Kuni tomorrow, but it will be difficult to squeeze in actually playing it since Path of Exile is in OB as of last night, and I'm still playing TERA for now...

What the hell? I didn't know that was possible or I would have tried it out on MK2 but on the whole I like the humour and spirit of the first MK game more, plus I'm more of an Akira Ishida fan (My favourite VA in MK 1 is Kishio Daisuke though because he does such an awesome job of making Roxis sound as grumpy and exasperated as he should be). I'm also more of a fan of the first game's OST with Gravestone Engraving (Mana Ruins BGM) being one of my top dungeon favourite BGMS of all time.