Ni No Kuni: Wrath Of The White Witch Is Better When Remastered And Played On The Go

Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch was a magical sort of game. It was born of a collaboration between two giants. Anyone who spends time with it is treated to a heartfelt story with exceptional production qualities. The biggest downside was, it was limited to the PlayStation 3. Now, fortunately for the world, that problem is being rectified. Multiple platforms are getting multiple versions, with some offering an even better looking experience and another giving people an opportunity to enjoy it in a new way.

The PlayStation 4 version of the game is designed to focus on one of the main selling points of Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch: its beauty. When it first debuted on the PlayStation 3, it was gorgeous. There were these fantastic animated cutscenes and an exceptional Joe Hisaishi soundtrack. But, it didn’t have the crispness you would expect from 1080p resolution. In this remaster, we have that. There’s that upgrade that really makes everything pop more now than it did before. Plus, we have 60fps that makes things move more smoothly. I didn’t notice any really detrimental lag when exploring, battling, or recruiting. I was unable to test the PlayStation 4 Pro options that would allow for true 4K and 30fps or that would focus on delivering 60fps at 1440p.

But, while having a prettier version of the game is a definite perk, there is something to be said for the flexibility the Nintendo Switch version affords. It’s a consistent experience that is presented in 720p. Which is exactly the same resolution it had on the PlayStation 3 and is fine for its purposes here. It also runs at 30fps, which was its original frame rate. When docked, it is a great experience and it seemed like textures looked a bit better. But, on the go it can be quite serviceable. I did notice some frame rate issues when Esther would Serenade enemies to recruit them both docked and undocked. Also, when playing in handheld mode, it did crash during a cutscene where Oliver and Esther met Swaine. (I didn’t experience any crashes while playing the PlayStation 4 version.) Still, in general, there’s something special about getting to play Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch anywhere. Especially since Ni no Kuni: Dominion of the Dark Djinn was never released on the Nintendo DS outside of Japan.

Both the new port and the remaster also eliminate the problem of wondering what happened with Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch DLC. In the original game, there we various Familiar Tickets you could get in certain ways. For example, there was a free Draggle on the PlayStation Store and the strategy guide included a code for a Golden Hurly. In these updated releases, those tickets are doled out almost immediately after Oliver gets The Wizard’s Companion. People get Draggle, Drongo, Flutterby, Golden Hurly, Griffy, and Mite automatically. You do have to wait until you can get to the Temple of Trials, where Solomon is hanging out, to trade them in. Still, it is a relief knowing they’re there.

The original Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch was this magical fairytale experience. It had the Studio Ghibli audio and visual experience that resulted in this gorgeous tale. Plus, it deviated from the generic, turn-based JRPG battle system by implementing familiars that players needed to acquire, strengthen, and work with. It had such personality, and now even more people will get to enjoy it in ways that help increase its beauty and range.

On September 20, 2019, Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch will come to the Nintendo Switch and Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch Remastered will come to the PlayStation 4 and PC. The standard version of Ni no Kuni is immediately available on the PlayStation 3.