TL;DR - Beautiful world and graphics, interesting though easy combat, solid idle game mechanics in the kingdom building subgame, and the typical JRPG massive array of fetch quests and collectables.

A fantastic and faithful successor to one of the best PS3 exclusives out there, Ni No Kuni II has been an absolute blast to play. The story is interesting when backed by the laws and people of the various kingdoms you come across, making it an experience where you honestly start to feel more like a king than a standard JRPG hero. The graphics are phenomenal, running very smoothly over 144 fps for me (there is an Unlimited or 60 FPS option in-game) and they really nail that charm you'd expect from a game whose predecessor was animated in part by Studio Ghibli. My only complaint is that the overworld has chibi sprites which don't fit too well, however they are cute and make it miles easier to navigate your own kingdom. You have fast travel right off the bat, however to use it you have to activate checkpoints at various spots in the world or cities. Ultimately you end up discovering a lot on your own the first time though, then later you can just teleport to the places you want easily.

Combat takes place in a seamless transition from exploring to fighting when in dungeons which is made better by the hack-and-slash elements of combat. The system is surprisingly deep for those who want to try it out, but it's not necessary so most people will just lock into the one thing that feels most comfortable for them. You have a lot of options available and you're free to try something completely different and not feel too crippled by boredom of the hack-and-slash go-to combo curse. Encounters from the overworld are not seamless transitions, however I never really felt like they were too jarring.

The kingdom building subgame is fantastic and if you're a fan of idle games, you'll spend a LOT of time upgrading. You earn money for improvements and research over time, so while you're off adventuring, your kingdom accumulates gold for you to spend on it once you return. These upgrades include buildings for crafting weapons, armor, upgrading spells, stores, various passives for exploring, combat, etc. As you recruit more and more citizens to your kingdom you'll be able to place them in buildings to research more upgrades, send children to the mines to give you materials, or have them occupy special buildings for various stores and services. I LOVE this part of the game and once you get it rolling, it's hard to put down.

The last gameplay mechanic is the weakest in my opinion: Skirmishes. This is essentially a little RTS scenario where you command an army of units led by various civilians you recruit. You can only have four units at a time surrounding you, which you then rotate to just...run into the enemy units. There's not a lot of depth to these battles and the difficulty/levels ramp up pretty inconsistently when there's only a handful of repeatable encounters. However, you can use a small amount of kingdom bucks to give your army some boosts before the battle which helps in the end.

Overall Ni No Kuni II has been a delight to play and I've barely been able to put it down in these last few days. There is a lot of standard JRPG content such as big monster killing and fetch quests complimented by hundreds of materials, weapons, and citizens to recruit. I wholeheartedly recommend this as a Ni No Kuni and JRPG fan.

TL;DR - Beautiful world and graphics, interesting though easy combat, solid idle game mechanics in the kingdom building subgame, and the typical JRPG massive array of fetch quests and collectables. A fantastic and faithful successor to one of the best PS3 exclusives out there, Ni No Kuni II has been an absolute blast to play. The story is interesting when backed by the laws and people of the various kingdoms you come across, making it an experience where you honestly start to feel more like a king than a standard JRPG hero. The graphics are phenomenal, running very smoothly over 144 fps for me (there is an Unlimited or 60 FPS option in-game) and they really nail that charm you'd expect from a game whose predecessor was animated in part by Studio Ghibli. My only complaint is that the overworld has chibi sprites which don't fit too well, however they are cute and make it miles easier to navigate your own kingdom. You have fast travel right off the bat, however to use it you have to activate checkpoints at various spots in the world or cities. Ultimately you end up discovering a lot on your own the first time though, then later you can just teleport to the places you want easily. Combat takes place in a seamless transition from exploring to fighting when in dungeons which is made better by the hack-and-slash elements of combat. The system is surprisingly deep for those who want to try it out, but it's not necessary so most people will just lock into the one thing that feels most comfortable for them. You have a lot of options available and you're free to try something completely different and not feel too crippled by boredom of the hack-and-slash go-to combo curse. Encounters from the overworld are not seamless transitions, however I never really felt like they were too jarring. The kingdom building subgame is fantastic and if you're a fan of idle games, you'll spend a LOT of time upgrading. You earn money for improvements and research over time, so while you're off adventuring, your kingdom accumulates gold for you to spend on it once you return. These upgrades include buildings for crafting weapons, armor, upgrading spells, stores, various passives for exploring, combat, etc. As you recruit more and more citizens to your kingdom you'll be able to place them in buildings to research more upgrades, send children to the mines to give you materials, or have them occupy special buildings for various stores and services. I LOVE this part of the game and once you get it rolling, it's hard to put down. The last gameplay mechanic is the weakest in my opinion: Skirmishes. This is essentially a little RTS scenario where you command an army of units led by various civilians you recruit. You can only have four units at a time surrounding you, which you then rotate to just...run into the enemy units. There's not a lot of depth to these battles and the difficulty/levels ramp up pretty inconsistently when there's only a handful of repeatable encounters. However, you can use a small amount of kingdom bucks to give your army some boosts before the battle which helps in the end. Overall Ni No Kuni II has been a delight to play and I've barely been able to put it down in these last few days. There is a lot of standard JRPG content such as big monster killing and fetch quests complimented by hundreds of materials, weapons, and citizens to recruit. I wholeheartedly recommend this as a Ni No Kuni and JRPG fan.