the original ni no kuni was probably one of my favourite games growing up, and the sequel was probably one of the last times ive been properly excited for a game besides botw. i remember it being a little dissapointing, the main gameplay was alright - the kingdom manager was a little fun and the skirmish things were enjoyable enough, but honestly i preferred the first game's even if it was a little unconventional. The story starts off with an actually really interesting intro with the whole president being transported into the other world and nuke thing, but it starts trailing off when it starts focusing on the catboy king making a new city rather than roland, putting him in a backseat for the whole game until pretty much the final boss for basically the same twist from the first game. i do remember there being a cool little section in the water place about letting go of the past, but it's basically as good as the game gets story wise - the first game's story wasnt exactly shakespeare but was fairly charming and had a way stronger focus with Oliver's mother, juxtaposed with the catboy being forced out of his kingdom "oh wait everything's fine he made friends with the conspirators midway through the game, they can keep the kingdom they stole, its all good". the visuals do look fairly good, considering studio ghibli pulled out of this one, with the world losing a bit of that hand painted art direction the first was going for, but still looks pretty nice.

honestly a dissapointing sequel, but an alright game on it's own - although the 12 year old inside me will never forget.