Grinding in Ni No Kuni

Grinding in Ni No Kuni

There be spoilers below!!

My very first RPG was Breath of Fire on the Super NES.  Being a newcomer, I didn’t realize the impact of repeatedly fighting monsters to gain in strength and collect items.  Luckily, Breath of Fire was pretty forgiving.  Nowadays though, I enjoy spending a little time grinding (LEVEL grinding) to put myself ahead of the game.  Most Western RPGs don’t require too much leveling – you can do it in Dragon Age or Elder Scrolls, but most of the time you get stronger as the game progresses.

Here's where I am in the game.  Adventuring inside Drippy's mom was... interesting...

Most JRPGs require a decent amount of extra grinding before moving forward (with games like Disgaea serving as extreme examples), and Ni No Kuni is no exception.  However, the battle system is so much fun that I’m hardly noticing the extra time required.  Now that I have Swaine, the third main character to recruit, things are getting even more interesting.  I have 9 familiars that I can between during battle, and as such I’m trying harder to catch as many as possible.

Our poor Swaine doesn't have any accessories yet, but that'll change soon!

The nice thing about Ni No Kuni is that even familiars who don’t participate in battle at all will still gain some experience, making it much easier to power up new comers.  Because, like Pokemon, familiars evolve after reaching a certain level, there’s an extra incentive to grind, just to see what they will change into.  My boyfriend has taken a particular interest in Swaine’s Mug Shot ability, allowing us to pilfer items from enemies.  As a result, we’ve got quite a stock of drops to evolve my creatures.

All-Out Attack and All-Out Defense are useful commands learned after Swaine joins up.

The way you catch familiars with Esther’s Serenade ability forces you into more battles, too, since there’s only a chance after defeating a creature in combat that you can catch it.  You might have to beat dozens before you can snag that one you want.  Along the way, you’ll pick up gobs of extra experience, Guilders, and items.

How’s everyone else enjoying Ni No Kuni?  I’m certainly loving this game!