Ninokuni: The Another World (Ghibli + Level 5 RPG) coming to PS3

DSGamer wrote:

I wonder just abstractly if JRPGs are hitting a rough spot.

I do think that's entirely true. The jump in graphical fidelity has been tough for them, I think. There's this perception that games have to push the platform they're on. But really, most jrpg fans - I suspect - would be more than happy to get a game with the exact same graphical quality as late-era PS2 titles like Final Fantasy XII or Dragon Quest 8; taking the same quality and simply running it at higher resolutions would be gorgeous. We don't need graphics on the level of FFXIII to be happy.

Thus, much of the jrpg development shifted over to the DS and PSP in lieu of the main consoles, much to my chagrin.

I am definitely going to pick up this title, it's just the collector's edition I can't quite justify the expenditure for. I have a fairly large backlog, but I'm not terribly worried about that. I get around to all my games eventually.

Ranger Rick wrote:

The goodies are neat, but not so much I want to spend the extra money for it, especially being realistic about how much time I actually have for gaming.

This is where I've landed. I don't remember the last collector's edition of anything I bought, just because I don't need all the crap filling up my personal space where small kids can destroy it. Plus, I like my money to stay in my account as much as possible.

DSGamer wrote:

I wonder just abstractly if JRPGs are hitting a rough spot.

I still don't think so. You see a greater variety and quantity than ever, and they sell about as well as ever (excluding a few outliers like FF7). It's just that other genres reach so much higher now than before that it seems like JRPGs are taking the back seat.

And again, I think judging the health of the genre on the preorder numbers for an extremely niche, very expensive title is a bit misguided. The game's name is still in Japanese.

Blind_Evil wrote:
DSGamer wrote:

I wonder just abstractly if JRPGs are hitting a rough spot.

I still don't think so. You see a greater variety and quantity than ever, and they sell about as well as ever (excluding a few outliers like FF7). It's just that other genres reach so much higher now than before that it seems like JRPGs are taking the back seat.

And again, I think judging the health of the genre on the preorder numbers for an extremely niche, very expensive title is a bit misguided. The game's name is still in Japanese.

Yeah, that's my take. There's no mainstream crossover happening right now. There's no Skyrim for JRPGs right now. FFVII was JRPGs' Skyrim. Since then the genre has looked like its failing because of a lack of FFVII-like sales, which, btw, don't really come close to rivaling Call of Duty sales.

With Xseed, Atlus and NISA being more commonly known than they were all of 5 years ago, I think the JRPG market is as big as its ever been outside of Japan. I mean, hell, Persona 4 just got a fighting game in the US. That game was on the PS2!

I think, for JRPGs, North American sales have to be taken in context of the fact that the market is not going to appeal to as wide an audience as a shooter will, which is what BE said and I'm running in circles now.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

JRPGs have hit a rough spot on home consoles, but they've absolutely flourished on handhelds. Top 10 lists for handhelds, both per year and across the whole generation, are dominated by JRPGs of all stripes.

I'm not sure how much of an effect that's had on Ni No Kuni's collector's edition. Usually the die-hard fans come out for collector's editions, but they're also not usually twice the cost of the base price. JRPG collector's editions are typically $80 or so and sell out. In this particular case, they have a very attractive product that is still priced outside of what most people are willing to pay.

Yeah. I think it looks gorgeous, but I won't lie. I would have preferred for this to be on a handheld.

That's what boggles my mind: there is a DS version of this that wasn't released in the US.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

That's what boggles my mind: there is a DS version of this that wasn't released in the US.

I've often contemplated learning to read Japanese purely to open an entirely new market of games to me. I imagine the difficulty to payoff ratio isn't something I'd really like in the end, though.

ClockworkHouse wrote:

That's what boggles my mind: there is a DS version of this that wasn't released in the US.

Required a big book to be translated. DS sales were falling. Etc etc.

Goal number 1 achieved for the collector's edition pre order bonus!

Here is the quote from ninostarter:
"Congratulations Everyone! We’ve reached the first goal and the set of 5 Ni no Kuni Prints will be included in every copy of the Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch - Wizard’s Edition released in North America. The second goal has been opened up and we think that it’s a pretty cool one, a golden Ni no Kuni Wizard’s Coin. It’s not an in-game coin, it’s a physical coin that you can collect or display proudly next to your Ni no Kuni game."

I'm disappointed by the next item...I would have rather gotten a soundtrack! :/

Jamull99 wrote:

I'm disappointed by the next item...I would have rather gotten a soundtrack! :/

Completely agree. I have a coin from Super Mario Galaxy, which is just collecting dust on my shelf. Don't really see the appeal of them as a limited edition/pre-order bonus.

Because small things go a long way in Japan?

[size=6]That's what she said.[/size]

shoptroll wrote:
Jamull99 wrote:

I'm disappointed by the next item...I would have rather gotten a soundtrack! :/

Completely agree. I have a coin from Super Mario Galaxy, which is just collecting dust on my shelf. Don't really see the appeal of them as a limited edition/pre-order bonus.

I like them. I have that one, and also a septim coin from Oblivion. I keep it on my desk, in case I ever get lost in Cyrodiil and need phone change.

New trailer!

Hands on!

I wonder if we'll get a demo in the States?

tuffalobuffalo wrote:

New trailer!

Well, that was a letdown. That's the same trailer they released earlier with some extra marketing at the end.

Ahhhh... I had decided not to watch one or two of those earlier trailers but couldn't resist today.

15 minutes of demo footage from gamescom:

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/08/22/he...

January is so far off.

Perhaps my sense of childlike wonder has finally dissolved into dust under the grindstone of life but my enthusiasm for this game has really cooled since the original announcement trailer. Maybe they need to add some cover based shooting mechanics or something :p

Judging by the poor progress of the Ninostarter, you aren't the only one cool to it. I sure hope 3800 is enough to justify production cost of the extras.

Whatevs. I'm going to play it and it will be magical. MAGICAL. MAGICAL, I TELL YOU.

I'm still on the fence with the super crazy preorder... if only we could see some reasonably sizeable excerpts from that book to see how worthwhile it'll be.

With one day to go, I don't think we're going to see Goal #2 achieved. I was hoping for a soundtrack or something else to be bundled in for that $99+s/h, but I'm still stoked for the game.

Tyrian wrote:

With one day to go, I don't think we're going to see Goal #2 achieved. I was hoping for a soundtrack or something else to be bundled in for that $99+s/h, but I'm still stoked for the game.

Hey, speak of the devil!

They extended the Ninostarter over the holiday weekend, and added a soundtrack selections disc to every Wizard Edition preorder! Whee!

Squeeeee!!!!

Fine, dammit! I'll preorder! Evil bastards...

Farscry wrote:

Fine, dammit! I'll preorder! Evil bastards...

Yes, but now you're part of the CLUB.

Tyrian wrote:
Tyrian wrote:

With one day to go, I don't think we're going to see Goal #2 achieved. I was hoping for a soundtrack or something else to be bundled in for that $99+s/h, but I'm still stoked for the game.

Hey, speak of the devil!

They extended the Ninostarter over the holiday weekend, and added a soundtrack selections disc to every Wizard Edition preorder! Whee!

Not complaining, happy to take it, but I also feel like this whole "Ninostarter" thing was a terrible half-baked idea. Somebody said "hey Kickstarter seems pretty popular" but they had a bunch of stuff they wanted to include and nobody wanted to fully commit to stretch goals, so...

I'm not against the concept when a small publisher doesn't want to stick its neck out on an expensive release or limited version, but they need to clearly define a minimum order and show all the stretch goals in advance as incentive. And maybe also borrow the idea of tiers, if they want to give everybody a book and prints and DLC but only think a few people are willing to pay extra for a little plush doll or what have you.

beeporama wrote:
Tyrian wrote:
Tyrian wrote:

With one day to go, I don't think we're going to see Goal #2 achieved. I was hoping for a soundtrack or something else to be bundled in for that $99+s/h, but I'm still stoked for the game.

Hey, speak of the devil!

They extended the Ninostarter over the holiday weekend, and added a soundtrack selections disc to every Wizard Edition preorder! Whee!

Not complaining, happy to take it, but I also feel like this whole "Ninostarter" thing was a terrible half-baked idea. Somebody said "hey Kickstarter seems pretty popular" but they had a bunch of stuff they wanted to include and nobody wanted to fully commit to stretch goals, so...

I'm not against the concept when a small publisher doesn't want to stick its neck out on an expensive release or limited version, but they need to clearly define a minimum order and show all the stretch goals in advance as incentive. And maybe also borrow the idea of tiers, if they want to give everybody a book and prints and DLC but only think a few people are willing to pay extra for a little plush doll or what have you.

I would have definitely gotten behind that concept. I don't really need a plush doll (that my cats will likely eat), and a soundtrack would have interested me from the get go.

Whaaaaa?!? I just got an email from Namco Bandai Games America saying that the release date on my Wizard edition has changed to September 4, 2012. There's something funny goin on around here.

Edit:

Thank you for ordering on Namco Bandai Games America. The release date for the preorder product has changed. The product listed below will now be available on September 4, 2012.

Order ID: *removed*
Product ID: 253168700
Product Name: Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch – Wizard’s Edition Club Namco Exclusive

If you have questions about your order, please visit: www.findmyorder.com

Please note: This email message was sent from a notification-only address that cannot accept incoming email. Please do not reply to this message.

Sincerely,
Namco Bandai Games America Customer Service
store.namcobandaigames.com/store/namcous/DisplayHelpPage

They had my order number and it came from the same email as the preorder confirmation, so I'm assuming it's legit. I wonder if someone screwed up.

That's Tuesday. That has got to be an error.

garion333 wrote:

That's Tuesday. That has got to be an error.

It does appear to be. I received a similar email to tuffalo, but just got a followup where they changed the release date back to 01/22/13.