Random disorganized thoughts:

I don't really know what to feel about Ni No Kuni 2. The game plays like kusoge but it doesn't look like one, you know? With that beautiful Ghibli art style, it just doesn't feel like it should be as mid as it is.

On the topic of Ghibli, the art style is definitely the main draw of the game. Which makes it a big bummer that, unlike NNK1, there are actually no Ghibli animated cutscenes in this game. Everything is either the characters just standing there or 3d animations. The latter of which still looks really pretty and all, but it doesn't hold a flipping candle to the real deal.

The big thing I wanna type about is the combat, what's up with it?
Each battle consists of a flat circle where you gotta hit the enemy a whole bunch while dodging and blocking, which seems easy enough. But the enemies attack so fast that you really never have time to react, and when you do react, a lot of attacks have such long attack animations that you still get hit after your dodge animation ends. Blocking is also an annoyance as even if you block an attack, you'll most likely fly backwards like 40 meters at least and lie on the ground for too long. Quite frankly it sucks to be defensive, and as a result, most fights just boil down to running toward an enemy spamming X to do quick attacks and casting spells whenever possible to hopefully stagger the opps while spamming healing items to tank through the damage. Something that sounds easy but your character has a priority in getting attacked actually so you end up running in a circle hoping your two friends take care of it for an obnoxious amount of time.

Things in NNK2 just generally take too long. Like, scenes just play out for too long. A menu opening up during a conversation takes too long. Menus popping up from a menu take too long. It just makes one feel like you're wasting your time. I ended up skipping most scenes just cuz they were so pointlessly long.

NNK2 is about an annoying brat, an isekai protagonist, and Lisa Simpson on their journey to unite the world against a big bad evil that wants to bring back his old kingdom literally called Allegoria. It's nothing special, honestly, and it's bogged down by the main character having the worst voice ever. I dunno what it is about it but Evan screeches in a monotone voice at all times. I haven't seen the voice actor in anything else so I dunno if she just struggled to play a little boy or something but jesus. Cutscenes ended up being ruined when the cool kid himself went and made a speech in this grating squeaking metal door noise they call a voice and had to be skipped for my sanity.

I like the music. That's all I really have to say about it though, it's a just really good orchestral soundtrack with a lot of pleasant tunes. Not my cup of tea but definitely something worth peeking. Particularly "Kingdom by the Sea."

Overall, do I think it's a good game? No. Did I enjoy playing it? Yes. Do I regret buying the game twice? Kinda, yeah.

Would I have enjoyed this game more if I didn't have prideful perfectionist brain sending me back to main menu (Bayonetta~) every time I took damage on an "easy" fight, despite mostly getting a Gold combo for my cautious trouble? Yes.
Would I also have enjoyed this game more if the PC port didn't fail to load in the models of objects and characters, at best making cutscenes look more ridiculous and at worst forcing another quit to menu (Bayonetta~)? Also yes.
Centering your game's mechanics around perfect dodge slowdown is cool both in concept and execution, but as it turns out, it builds a huge crutch for when late game enemies are balanced by only having certain attacks activate Witch Time when dodged.

Run on Sentence X 3: 30 Points X Coffee Time Bonus