Bear and I've been checking out Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch for the PS3. It was developed through the combined efforts of Level-5 (known for the Professor Layton series and Dragon Quest 8 and 9) and Studio Ghibli (known for the films Princess Mononoke and Howl's Moving Castle). I've been a huge Studio Ghibli fan since I was small so seeing them taking a huge part in developing a game with Level-5 got me excited. =)

Level-5 did a fantastic job capturing the trademark art style used in most Ghibli films! The game sports nicely done cel shaded characters with colorfully vibrant and detailed environments that look as if they were hand painted. Even the awesome music is fully orchestrated and composed by Studio Ghibli's usual composer Joe Hisaishi. Aside from the fact that you can sometimes see straight edges on the character models, it's like playing a Ghibli film! XD

If you like JRPG's and love Pokemon, this is probably one of those games you should really check out. Like Pokemon, being good at beating baddies heavily relies on catching fun looking monsters, and assembling a team to strategically take advantage of your opponent's weaknesses. There are about 400 different creatures you can recruit, including evolutions and the freedom to customize their stats and what abilities they learn and forget.

A large part of Ni No Kuni's Story revolves around the idea of restoring peoples' "broken hearts." Many people have had qualities such as enthusiasm, kindness, and courage, taken from them through a curse and it's up to you to restore them. You do so by finding people who have an abundance of the quality you are looking for and transplanting some of it from one person to the other. Oliver uses his locket to transport the "heart pieces," but you can't carry more than one of each type at a time.

Sometimes it seems like Oliver is a little too eager to suck hearts out of people. If he finds someone with an abundance of a heart while his locket is full, he'll still want to get some out of that person. Sidekick Drippy always has to butt in to remind Oliver in the end that he can't carry anymore. XD