Ni No Kuni: Wrath Of The White Witch Remastered – When Ghibli made a video game (Picture: Bandai Namco)
A reader explains his love for Level-5’s Ni No Kuni: Wrath Of The White Witch and why he thinks it’s superior to Persona and Final Fantasy.
When it comes to Japanese role-playing games, gamers have their favourites: Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Xenoblade Chronicles, Persona (particularly Persona 5), Tales, Fire Emblem, Yakuza, and so on. Yet there is one game that I feel people don’t talk about, which happens to be my favourite, and that’s Ni No Kuni: Wrath Of The White Witch.
A collaborative work from Studio Ghibli and Level-5, Wrath Of The White Witch features the very best from both studios, with the almighty anime company delivering the stellar story and soundtrack, while Level-5 put their seasoned gameplay designing chops to excellent use. I believe Wrath Of The White Witch is a truly stunning and an incredibly resonant game. Personally, I believe it has the best story of any game I’ve ever played.
I love every inch of Wrath Of The White Witch’s heart and soul, so much so that’s it’s extremely difficult to express my true love for this game within the 600 word limit. I love the characters, the soundtrack, the visual style, the sense of humour, the quirkiness, the majesty of the kingdoms – all of it is pristinely made and utterly absorbing.
The protagonist Oliver is an extraordinarily endearing protagonist with his gentle personality, honestly, loyalty, and politeness, making him the undisputed best child I’ve ever seen in any game. He behaves like a child would too, with uncertainty in his voice, and he makes mistakes that forge the main storyline of Wrath Of The White Witch. I think Oliver is a standard bearer, not only for video game children, but real-life children too.
Wrath Of The White Witch has brought on the waterworks more times than I think any video game has done beforehand. This is thanks to a sublime soundtrack and scenes that are so solemn and heartfelt, I just can’t help but tear up every single time I see them. Every scene with Oliver and his mother is so special, yet so melancholic; it really drives home how exceptional the mother/son relationship is.
The sense of humour in Wrath Of The White Witch is excellent too. Drippy is a chortle-worthy Welsh doll, whose use of slang and upfront personality perfectly counters Oliver’s gentle sweetness. There are a couple of stand-up comedy fairies who give a jolly performance and show that Wrath Of The White Witch is a jack of all trades and a master of many.
Each kingdom is rife with a bespoke majesty that’s delightful and inspiring to behold. They’re presided over by a handful of unforgettable yet exquisitely charismatic personalities, including a rotund bed-ridden queen, a gigantic feline, and a range of other royalty who are in desperate need of assistance thanks to their state of broken-heartedness.
Oliver is the pure-hearted one, who carries a locket full of elixirs containing numerous vitality boosters including enthusiasm, courage, kindness, restraint, and love, amongst others; showing not only Oliver’s unending stock of qualities, but how these qualities can be magical healing powers as well.
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Boss battles are unforgettable too, from a genie who pulls out devastating attacks using his cauldron, to a tank named after a Ghibli animated classic, to a giant jellyfish, a dragon or two, and a cluster of other unforgettable clashes. Personality exudes every pore of Wrath Of The White Witch, and the almighty and epic nature of boss battles tops many within the genre.
Wrath Of The White Witch might be over a decade old but its legacy is as bright now as it was when it originally came out. It’s the most relatable and beautiful game I think I’ve ever played and it’s an incredibly resonant masterpiece as far as I’m concerned. If you love Studio Ghibli’s work and haven’t played Wrath Of The White Witch what are you doing? Go play and enjoy this sublime Japanese role-player, you won’t regret it!
By reader James
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A reader explains his love for Level-5’s Ni No Kuni: Wrath Of The White Witch and why he thinks it’s superior to Persona and Final Fantasy.