Ninokuni - the Level 5/Studio Ghibli collaboration (DS)

[Angry the Clown]

This was announced a few weeks ago. Ninokuni: The Another World, an RPG, is part of Level 5's 10th Anniversary products - this one being particularly special in that all of the game's animation is being handled by Studio Ghibli. There will be variant of the game coming to a currently unspecified console but the DS version will be making its debut first.

 

Ni no Kuni puts players in the role of a 13-year-old boy whose mother dies as a result of his actions. This, obviously, leaves the boy very sad. One day, a fairy appears before the boy and gives him a book which promises to lead him to the mysterious world of Ni no Kuni. In this world, which exists in a different time frame from the real world, the boy attempts to save his mother.

The world of Ni no Kuni actually runs parallel to the real world. Players will be able to travel between the two.

Characters who appear in one world appear in the other as well, but with different roles. Famitsu offers a look at two examples.

The main character's neighbor has a cat, Frank. In the world of Ni no Kuni, Frank becomes King Frank, the lazy leader of the Kingdom of Goronel, and the first king the main character encounters when he enters the new world.

Also introduced in the magazine is Lyla, an elderly lady who runs a coffee shop. In the Ni no Kuni world, she's the Queen of Babanashia Kingdom, and she can't stop eating. She's gotten so fat that it seems she could burst if she eats any more.

The game will actually come packaged with a book entitled 'The Magic Master' which the lead character himself carries around. It will feature all sorts of character history and spells for the player to refer to.




TGS marked the debut of the game's first trailer:
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/41285.html

It looks beautiful (obviously)

[EnemaEms]

Will be getting this for sure. The book alone makes it a must purchase.

 

Never was a big RPG fan, but I do enjoy them on the DS.

 

-Dean-