Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom

Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom (二ノ国II レヴァナントキングダム, Ni No Kuni II Revu~ananto Kingudamu), known additionally as Ni no Kuni 2, is a role-playing game developed by Level-5 for the PS4, Pro PS4, Microsoft Windows, and Nintendo Switch. It is the sequel to the critically acclaimed Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch.

Studio Ghibli alumni Yoshiyuki Momose was in charge of character design, after serving as animation director for the previous entry. The game featured a revamped combat system, and several other improvements.

The game was announced in December 6, 2015 at Playstation Experience. It was set to be released on the Playstation 4 for December 13, 2017 but was moved to March 23, 2018. It was later released as Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom: All In One Edition in September 16, 2020 for the Nintendo Switch.

Plot
King Evan Pettiwhisker Tildrum, a young grimalkin king of Ding Dong Dell gets dethroned in a castle siege by one of his father's closest advisers, Lord Mausinger. Roland, president of an unknown country in another world, has a similar event happen when an explosion takes out his presidential convoy, leaving him close to death. He is teleported to Evan's castle where the two quickly join forces with one of Evan's long-term caretakers named Aranella. Although Aranella is gravely injured in the uprising, she is able to have one final moment with Evan, and convinces him to start a new kingdom, one of peace, and take back his throne.

Since then, he is occasionally approached in his dreams by a mysterious boy around his age, who becomes his confidant.

Given this, Evan and Roland travel to Cloudcoil Canyon to reach the Kings' Cradle to seek out a Kingmaker for themselves. There, they are joined by a group of sky-pirates, their boss Batu, and his daughter Tani who help them reach the shrine in which Evan undergoes a trial to make a bond with a new Kingmaker. Upon success, Evan is joined by the tiny Lofty, his new Kingmaker. After settling in an unclaimed plain area, Roland instructs Evan to make contact with a neighboring kingdom: Goldpaw, where they learn that Goldpaw's ruler, Master Pugnacius, is making use of rigged gambling to exploit the population. Once Pugnacius is exposed by the party, his Kingsbond is exposed by a mysterious man called Doloran. The party later learns that Doloran was once a king from a long lost Kingdom that disappeared in a single day. Despite his errors, Pugnacius retains the support of his people, as he was just being manipulated by Doloran to do his bidding.

Back to their settlement, the party, along with the pirates and immigrants from other nations, establish the nation of Evermore. To plan their next step, Evan and the others seek for knowledge at Goldpaw's library where they learn of Ferdinand, an ancient king who once united the kingdoms of the whole world through a "Declaration of Interdependance", which inspires Evan to do the same. After convincing Pugnacius to sign the declaration, Evan and the others set to Hydropolis, where they fail to prevent Doloran from stealing Queen Nerea's Kingsbond, but convinces her to sign the declaration, while Leander agrees to join the party to stop Doloran's schemes. A similar situation occurs in Broadleaf, where Doloran steals the Kingsbond from President Zip Vector, who also agrees to sign the declaration afterwards, and the party is joined by Bracken.

After returning to Evermore, Roland leaves temporarily and sets to Ding Dong Dell, where he feigns allegiance with Mausinger in order to retrieve the Mark of Kings, an important artifact belonging to the royal family. After Roland returns to the party, they hold an audience with Mausinger in order to exchange the Mark of Kings for his cooperation, but he attacks them instead. In the occasion, Doloran takes advantage of the conflict to steal Mausinger's Kingsbond and reveals that he corrupted Mausinger's advisor, Vermine, instructing him to turn Mausinger against Evan's father. Instead of rewarding Vermine for his services, Doloran steals his soul instead and flees. Realizing his errors, Mausinger reforms, and agrees to treat all citizens in Ding Dong Dell equally and sign the declaration.

With four Kingsbonds in his possession, Doloran begins the ritual to retrieve his own Kingsmaker, "The Horned One", stealing the souls of people around the world in the process. In response, the party returns to Goldpaw's library where they find clues about the "Mornstar", a legendary sword capable of destroying the Horned One. After the Mornstar is recreated and entrusted to Evan, the armies of the five nations launch an attack on the Horned One to allow the party to reach and confront Doloran. Facing the party himself, Doloran reveals that Roland is his soulmate from Earth, and should one of them die, the other will perish as well. He also reveals that his true intention is not only to revive his lost kingdom but to restore his former Kingsmaker and lover, Alisandra, who was turned into the Horned One because she defied the gods by loving him. Doloran then asks Roland, whose nation on Earth was destroyed by war, to join his side, but he refuses, and the party defeats Doloran in battle.

Soon after, the Horned One manifests itself and is slain by the party. Alisandra's spirit appears before Doloran and reveals that she actually tried to relinquish her powers to live beside him, but by doing so, these powers converted her into the Horned One, and departs to the afterlife. Evan then convinces Doloran to start anew and recreate his kingdom from scratch. Back to Evermore, Evan and the kings of the other major nations celebrate their victory with their subjects, but Roland is sent back home, having one last encounter with Evan before departing. In another encounter with the mysterious boy, Evan discovers that he has actually been talking with Ferdinand in his dreams, who was not a king from the past, but his son and successor instead, who provided clues for the party through Goldpaw's librarian, Boddly, who in reality is a soothsayer. Many years later, Ferdinand assumes his father's throne and accomplishes Evan's dream of uniting all countries in the world. In the post-credits, Roland, back to his original age, pushes forward in his mission to unite all countries of Earth as well, inspired by his journeys with Evan.

Chapters
The game includes nine playable chapters:


 * Chapter 1: The Fall of the House of Tildrum
 * Chapter 2: A Kingdom to Come
 * Chapter 3: The Town that Tempted Fate
 * Chapter 4: Ferdinand, Mighty Ferdinand
 * Chapter 5: The Sea Queen’s Curse
 * Chapter 6: The Price of Power
 * Chapter 7: A Traitor in Our Midst
 * Chapter 8: Land of My Fathers
 * Chapter 9: To Be a King

Development
Unlike the first game, which was a collaboration with Studio Ghibli, the sequel did not have their involvement. Despite that, former Ghibli character designer Yoshiyuki Momose and longtime music composer Joe Hisaishi, both of whom worked on Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, reprised their lead roles. Level-5 CEO Akihiro Hino stated that sequel was developed with the overseas market in mind, and there were originally no plans to produce a Japanese localization.

“At first, Ni no Kuni II was being developed for overseas, and there was a time where we hesitated on whether we should release a Japanese version. Ultimately we ended up making a Japanese version with high motivation. However, entertainment is all about making things for those who say they really like something and give you money for it. The previous title received many awards overseas, and we decided to narrow down the target [for the overseas audience] and that’s why we made its title [Revenant Kingdom] romanized.”

Publisher Bandai Namco confirmed that the game was exclusively being development for PS4 and PC. Level-5, whose only game in development for Xbox was cancelled in the mid-2000s. True Fantasy Live Online was an MMORPG that was being developed for the original Xbox, and despite being ‘fully playable’ it was canned by Microsoft in 2004. It’s been rumored that Level-5 and Microsoft didn’t part on good terms.

The game was announced during the PlayStation Experience event in December 2015. Eurogamer described the announcement as a highlight of the event. Hino said that the sequel would better fulfill the ambitions of the original game, with deeper gameplay systems and improved visuals. The character of Roland was developed to allow older players to feel more engaged with the story, due to his age. "This one is turning out to be a regular single player [game]. Reflecting on the previous one, the portrayal of the main character and the content was very much aimed at adults, but the visuals ended up looking a little like they were for children."

"Because it seemed it was aiming too much at kids, and even though the hero is also a young boy this time, we’ve been careful in establishing this something adults can totally played by adults. As for the universe we’re creating, it’s like a Ghibli anime in that is easy for both adults and children to enter."

Broadening the game's appeal also extended to the player's companions as well, "In the previous Ni No Kuni the supporting characters were two young kids and one adult but I wanted to balance that spectrum with more variety, different kinds of adults, men and women. So there are a lot of relationships and points of emotional contact that people can relate to and feel injected into the story."

Hino also explained humor as being a core part of the series, "In the first game Drippy played a big role of being the comic relief, a sidekick who was always there to bounce jokes off. There are similar characters in Ni No Kuni 2. What really gives these characters the source of their humor is their strength as characters.

The more you can pack and condense into the uniqueness of these characters the more you have to work with, regardless of what culture it's being localized into. So there are lots of opportunities for jokes."

On Jan 27, 2018, the official Playstation Youtube channel released a behind-the-scenes video where Yoshiyuki Momose talks about the challenges of bringing cel-shaded characters to life in a 3D game. Even though they may have a flat appearance at first glance, they have to pop with life and convince the player that they are a living, breathing entity within the world of the game with personalities that are convincing enough to draw you into their plight. Akihiro Hino and game director Takafumi Koukami also add in their comments, and it all makes for a fascinating look at how a Studio Ghibli veteran approaches the job of game development, which he also admits is quite the different experience from anything else he has worked on in the past.

Gameplay Features
According to RPG Gamer, the game would feature four realms to explore. Aside from the kingdom of Ding Dong Dell, which is a holdover from the first game, there are three other realms to tour: the oriental-themed gambler’s haven of Goldpaw, the classical Aegean monarchy of Hydropolis, and the retro-futuristic technocracy of Broadleaf. Every location of narrative importance has its own distinct motif, and there is a variety of generic zone designs for side dungeons and certain semi-randomized elements like the Dream Door levels or the Labyrinth."

The "Higgledies" were introduced to refresh the battle system. "Described in the game as miniature forces of nature that decided to get up and go for a walk one day. These elemental nature spirits can be gained via story progression, summoned through a certain shop in Evermore, or bribed out of their hiding places in special stones scattered throughout the world. Each Higgledy comes with its own appearance and personality described in its profile, often with a cute anecdote. Up to four Higgledies can accompany the party into battle, giving what help they can on their own or at the behest of the player. For the most part they will heal or attack as they wont, but the player is able to activate special Higgledy powers from time to time, which adds one more layer of activity to the fast-paced battles."

"On the other side of the game, there are the military encounters. These are large-scale battles played out upon the main world map as Evan leads four squads of Evermorean citizens against invaders, bandits, rogue monsters, or the training forces of allied nations. Various citizens come with their own forces of swordsmen, pikers, archers, gunners, defenders, or mages, and the military loadout is often more important than the actual levels due to how strengths and defenses work. Only a few military encounters are integral to the plot, but more than a few side quests involve them, so they form a good change of pace when the player so desires."

Following the game's release, a handful of DLC packs were released that expanded the original game in a few meaningful ways." According to Polygon, "The Lair of the Lost Lord adds The Labyrinth area, some new quests, and some combat additions. Tale of a Timeless Tome is an adventure that takes place in Evan’s dreams. This pack also adds more combat options, a new story campaign, and a battle arena. Developer Level 5 and Bandai Namco released the The Lair of the Lost Lord and Tale of a Timeless Tome in 2018 and 2019, respectively.

Release
Delayed twice prior to its launch, it was released for Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 4 on March 23, 2018. In addition to the standard version of the game, players can also purchase three different editions, depending on region. A "day one edition" included a downloadable content pack that added five unique weapons. The premium edition features a steelbook, papercraft kit, a collection of original songs, and the Dragon's Tooth DLC, while the collector's edition includes all of that in addition to behind-the-scenes videos, an art book, a diorama, a plush, a display case, and the season pass; in Europe and Australia, the "Prince's Edition" features a steelbook, behind-the-scenes videos, and the season pass, while the "King's Edition" features the same in addition to a vinyl record, art book, and a diorama music box.

A soundtrack, featuring Hisaishi's contributions and performances by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, was released on June 6, 2018.

DLC
In response to criticism about the game being too easy, an update adding two new difficulty modes was released in June 2018. The game received three downloadable content (DLC) packs, with the first releasing on August 9, 2018, the second titled The Lair of the Lost Lord on December 13, 2018, and the third titled The Tale of a Timeless Tome on March 19, 2019.

According to Bandai Namco's description for the final DLC, The Tale of a Timeless Tome, "Evan and his friends hear a rumor about a mysterious rabbit dressed in a tuxedo that is being seen in people’s dreams,". "Evan decides to investigate by staying at the Goldpaw Inn. When Evan falls asleep, he finds himself in a dream world and encounters the rabbit who tells them he is the conductor. Who is this off character and what is his objective?"

The pack includes several new martial arts methods in the form of The Wizard's Companion and Martha's Methods, as well as a new arena called The Solosseum Slog.

The Prince’s Edition of the game that includes all previous downloadable content packs, was released worldwide on September 17, 2021 for the Nintendo Switch.

Adventure Pack
A free DLC.

The Adventure Pack provides new challenges for experienced players. It adds additional floors to the Faraway Forest cave, upon clearing, players will be rewarded with new costumes for Evan and other characters. Players will have the opportunity to challenge themselves with even stronger new bosses: Blackhart and Zeta. Additional quests will be unlocked after completing the story and unique rewards can be acquired.

The Lair of the Lost Lord
A paid DLC.

A mysterious gate has appeared in the Rubbly Ruins leading to the Labyrinth, the chaotic root of the corruption spreading over the world. And The Prince of Wraiths, the mysterious ruler of the Labyrinth, is planning to use this corruption to destroy the Evermore Kingdom.

Players will have to step into the Labyrinth and face the terrors lurking below to stop the Prince of Wraiths’ madness and bring peace to Evermore.

A new system enhancing the players’ battle ability is also coming - The Martial Method. This new power-up will be obtainable from memories of people met during the journey. Further information about the Martial Method will be coming soon.

Additional content will also include more than 80 new piece of equipment that will elevate the team to new heights, newly added quests revealing the back story of some of the main characters, and a returning enemy seeking a final rematch posing a deadly challenge…

New features include: 
 * The Labyrinth: A brand new zone containing a number of new challenges
 * The Martial Method: The latest addition to the battle system. Players will get access to two Martial Methods. Gizmo Supremo, which provides players with access to hi-tech gadgets to turn the tide of battle and Ding Dong Discipline, a combat method inherited by the kingdom’s finest warriors. The Martial Methods can be changed and improved in the kingdom
 * New quests unveiling the past of some of the main characters, and new pieces of equipment to collect

The Tale of a Timeless Tome
A paid DLC.

The Tale of a Timeless Tome begins with Evan and his friends hearing about a rumor regarding a mysterious rabbit dressed in a tuxedo that is being seen in people’s dreams. Evan decides to investigate by staying at the Goldpaw Inn. When Evan falls asleep, he finds himself in a dream world and encounters the rabbit who tells them he is The Conductor. Who is this off character and what is his objective?

New features:
 * Along with new story elements players will be able to discover new Methods to help customize their style of battle. One of the new methods, “Wizard’s Companion” may sound familiar to  Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch  players. Find out what Evan and his friends can do with these new Methods!


 * The Solosseum Slog is a new battle arena that challenges players against strong enemies. Winning will net players new items as a reward!

Music
Long-time Studio Ghibli collaborator Joe Hisaishi returns to compose the game's soundtrack. Performed by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Ni no Kuni II score is filled with grand orchestrations, unforgettable melodies and moments of playful wonderment. But, taking a different direction from the original title, the soundtrack also features more somber tones, a greater emphasis on rhythms, and even unexpected electronic touches. Specialty label Wayô Records released the international edition of the game's soundtrack on May 12, 2018.

The game's "King's Edition" in Europe contained a vinyl record including the game's main theme.

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