Ni No Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom Review - IGN

Revenant Kingdom delivers in pacing and scope, but is let down by a lack of character development and challenge.

[-Foxtrot]

There’s always one

Character development and challenge? I could think of a few certain 9/10 or 10/10 games they’ve let that slide on 🙄

[forevercloud3000]

According to the Dualshocker's review, NNK2's character development comes largely from doing the side quests....which I am assuming IGN did not do much of. I think when they realize that saying that outs them as just speed runners they will be forced to change their score.

[r2oB]

I just went and re watched IGNs Zelda BoTW review and Mario Odyssey review, it’s so obvious they have different standards for certain games.

[-Foxtrot]

@r2oB

Yeah exactly I mean BotW...wheres the character development after 20 or so years

[BigWan78]

7.8 is basically a 8/10...

8 out of 10 is a very good game to me...

[rainslacker]

IGN hasn't been favorable to most JRPG's since the media decided that western RPG's were better last gen. A 7.8 is actually pretty high for them for a JRPG.

[notachance]

the reviewer said "evan's story was well developed and interesting" in the middle there, but at the end he said lack of character development... what?? what???

[Last_Boss]

Lmaooooo!!!

[hench07]

Glad I scrolled down N4G though this flopped for a second. But looks like it got mostly 9-10s

[Eonjay]

Yeah IGN doesn't see eye to eye with everyone else... suprising. In this case majority rules. We aren't going to ignore everyone else just to indulge IGN. They got paid for sea of theives promotion so I bet tomorrow when reviews go up they will be opposite of everyone else again.

[rainslacker]

IGN tends to be very inconsistent with their review scores, and what they consider important in one game, doesn't even get a mention or uprate in another game....even if it's in the same genre. It's strange because IGN actually does have editors which seem to have an editorial standard for everything except reviews.

While it's easy enough to ignore one oddball review score....and in this case 7.8 isn't terrible....IGN is still one of the largest gaming sites on the internet, so a lot of people will only see this score, and not the others. For a game like NNK, it's unlikely to fall into the problem of having biased reviews for hits...although I'm sure there will be one or two here or there.

[michellelynn0976]

Is that what they are based on. I know which game you are giving a back handed slap to. Stop it.

[Aceman18]

No one pays attention to IGN opinions anymore. Honestly I knew they would be the lowest scoring amongst the top gaming media sites.

[Lighter9]

"No one pays attention to IGN opinions anymore."

How many comments have you read? Looks like most are triggered or are jumping on the hate bandwagon.

[SuperSonic91]

Dude, this is a PS4 console exclusive. That means its click bait season for IGN. Expect more when God of War, Spiderman and Detroit launches.
They are luring in traffic by negative publicity...you know tabloid journalism.
And the target is the huge PS4 install base.

[xPhearR3dx]

Did you happen to play the first game? Because I can tell you right now that first game was something special. I don't care about reviews, I'm getting this game day 1. But each game is reviewed differently, especially when it's part of a series. Are you gonna dock Monster Hunter because there's no character development and a weak story? No, because that long lasting franchise over the past decade has never put forth a real story or character development. While Ni No Kuni hasn't been around as long, the first game set a high standard for expectations. So if this person feels the lack of character development compared to the 1st game, that's a perfectly acceptable criticism to have.

[-Foxtrot]

If the side missions offer a ton of character development and you skip it to rush your review then sorry but it’s not valid criticism

[xPhearR3dx]

They are exactly that. "Side missions". They're there for people who want to further expand their gameplay after the credits roll. Character development should be done in the story, not optional quest. Xenoblade Chronicles 2 did this SAME exact method and people bitched about it. For people like me, I don't care. I'm a completionist, so I'll do all those missions. For a review, you don't need to 100% a game to form a valid opinion. If they beat the story and did some side missions and felt the character development wasn't enough, then yes that's still valid criticism. Especially in a game where the characters (at least the first game) were extremely likable and story/character development were a focal point.

Edit: For the record, I haven't read/watched IGN's review, nor anyone's. I'm staying spoiler free, just interested in conversations people are having about the game. But if a review doesn't do all or even half of the "optional" missions for the sole purpose of character development, I'm not going to blame them. Especially when I've heard people say NK2 has a lot of "fetch quest".

[rainslacker]

Depends on if the character development is central to the story or not. Not all character development is.

For instance, the mass Effect series had almost no character development for anyone except Shepard....which was based on player choices...outside of the side quests.

For a lot of JRPG's, the side quests are where they build the side characters, and often times, add in new insights or development for main characters as well. It's nothing new. So long as the characters develop to build the story itself, then it's what is expected and typical.

The first game was much the same way. Character development was mostly built through optional stuff. The first game also suffered from some oddities in the game play...which apparently aren't present in the sequel.

[notachance]

that's a reasonable argument if not for the reviewer's inconsistencies when he said "evan's story is well developed and interesting" in one sentence and "lack of character development" in the other.

[badz149]

I've called it since the release of BoTW last year. they will find ridiculous reason to shit on NNK2.

"...delivers in pacing and scope, but is let down by a lack of character development and challenge."

SO DUMB! if it's a Nintendo's game, nothing else matters but gameplay! hypocrites!

[Old McGroin]

Christ, so a website marked down your new toy because they have an opinion, grow up and get over it.

[Obscure_Observer]

Not a bad review, anyway. They gave Persona 5 a 9.7 though.

Polygon gave Nino Kuni 2 a 9. :)

[UKRsoldja]

Who cares? It's a crap game.

[Obscure_Observer]

@UKRsoldja

Yeah, i´m pretty sure you bought it and played it. S/

[jznrpg]

IGN is a joke

[Aceman18]

So true

[DreadGara]

Your wrong if you really have any other doubts.
IGN is a pay to win disgusting hypocrite website, and so biased when it comes to certain consoles.
Still surprised many people actually still take them seriously....

[Nyxus]

7.8 - too much charm

[NextGenCeo]

Too much water 2...

[Pancit_Canton]

Automatic 2.2 deduction for being a PlayStation Console Exclusive.

IGN has the most ****ded rating system ever.

[SpringHeeledJack]

Correct, we all know why they gave it a lower score.

[EmperorDalek]

Yes, that's why they've given plenty of high scores to PlayStation games over the years.
This sounds like a bad, rushed review. It's not like IGN are even IGN anymore, they've lost most, if not all their core staff. But I don't think this review was biased, as bad as it is.

[Relientk77]

7.8

Too much JRPG lol

[dennigo]

they probably didn't wanna pay ign

[Xenophon_York]

IGN and GameSpot sure are being stingey with the '9' scores. Practically all other reviewers are giving this thing either a perfect score or just under.

[PoopsMcGee]

To be fair GameSpot, in general, tends to grade a bit tougher than most sites but IGN is definitely an outlier

[Xenophon_York]

Too much of not having enough.

[ocelot07]

"Evan has strange ears therefore it slightly ruins the gameplay"

7.8/10 IGN

[Pancit_Canton]

IGN in a nutshell.

Too Much Ears - 7.8 IGN

I'm just glad I don't really listened to somebody's opinion. I just go for the things that I really enjoyed playing.

[Relientk77]

"Can't tell if the main character is a boy or girl"

7.8/10 IGN

[lptmg]

wait, that's a dude?

[Razmiran]

Yes

[Servbot41]

He does have strange ears. Ear fur not matching hair color is like a pet peeve of mine.

[GamesMaster1982]

Mainly Reviews mean jack shit to me. I just use tham as a base of what the game is like ig gameplay and story wise. i loved Metal Gear Survive even though most reviews shat all over it, it's still one of my fave games so far this year after Monster Hunter, and i loved the first Ni No Kuni so even if this scored a 1/10 i could not give a shit and would still buy.

[Lighter9]

OMG. How dare you use your brain! lol

[Elda]

I hear that! Most times it's best to use your judgement.

[tmisellati]

86 on metacritics and 89 on opencritic at the moment

[MadLad]

Yup. That's the aggregate score, based on the average of varying opinions from varying outlets. If you want everyone to live as a hive mind, under singular way of thinking, then make an account on N4G ... oh wait.

[The 10th Rider]

The same people who made a big fuss about some Zelda fans getting upset about a 9.7 metacritic game getting a 7.5 are now throwing a fit about a game that has a 8.5 average getting a 7.8. Then they accuse reviewers of having double standards and report comments saying a 7.8 is a good score as innapropriate.

I think No No Kuni 2 looks like an amazing game and I have no doubt I personally would score it higher than a 7.8 . . . But that's not really that unreasonable for someone else to think it's a 7.8.

[rainslacker]

But IGN downrated it because there wasn't enough character development. Given that BOTW had NO character development, it seems like they have double standards, and it calls their reviewing ethics into questions.

Of course, people have been calling their reviewing standards into question for quite a while now, because they seem to have absolutely no consistency from one review to the next.

[Obscure_Observer]

@rainslacker

Jesus, man. It´s just ONE PERSON´S review a.k.a opinion. And it´s not even a bad review. He doesn´t speak for the entire IGN Reviewers Team, so WHY do you felt the need to drag Zelda BOTW into this?

No sure why you expect "review consistency" from a gamming site as big avaliable worldwide like IGN.

"I work at Nintendo Treehouse. Former IGN & 1UP. Puerto Rican 🇵🇷. Views expressed do not represent my employer."

This is how the guy who gave Zelda a 10 at IGN describes himself.

The guy who score Nino Kuni 2 with a 7.8 is an IGN Editor from Australia fgs! And you expect those people´s minds at IGN Worldwide to work like some kind of hivemind. Smdh.

[rainslacker]

Sure, it's one person's opinion. But that has nothing to do with IGN's inconsistent review standards, which should be set out by it's editorial standards. Not saying the person reviewing this game is wrong in their opinion, or shouldn't have it, just that IGN as a whole isn't really consistent enough to be able to judge if one review is on par with another.

I don't expect one person to review all the games that IGN reviews in a month, just that some standard for what is to be looked for from a game be laid out across the board. The average reader isn't going to research the reviewer themselves, they're going to base their outlook on the site as a whole.

If the editor says, "If a story based game lacks character development, then that has to be considered regardless of the game". But if you just have it where every reviewer does what they want, then you have lack of character development here causing a knock on the score, but the likely even bigger lack of character development in BOTW having absolutely no effect on the score. It's inconsistent, and a problem with the review standards, not the reviewer themselves.

[Lighter9]

JRPG fans hate when someone doesn't agree with them.

I will wait until I play this to see whether I like it or not. I haven't liked JRPGs in a long time.

[_-EDMIX-_]

I know right because other genre of games just love it when you disagree /s

[ocelot07]

I agree it's not like there has been war of words on the countless Fortnite v PUBG topics in recent weeks. They all get on just fine. It's just those silly JRPG fans /s

[Eonjay]

No we hate it when everyone thinks it good and one person comes in and low balls for attention. You know, the internet in a nutshell.

[zodiac909]

I rate IGN a -7.8

[InTheZoneAC]

I've seen games get a 9.5 or 10 for some pretty annoying issues, but in this case it drops 2.2 points....k

[Tototot]

"Too much furries, cant control hard-on"

7.8 /10 IGN

[Killa78]

First Yakuza 0, now Ni No Kuni...

[Lighter9]

IGN keeping it real.

[CP_Company]

7,8-10. too good to score a 9 or 10.

[michellelynn0976]

And Sony fans talk about Nintendo fans flipping out over review scores. I think the game looks amazing, but if IGN gives it a 7.8, that is their choice. Also, Mario and Zelda are not story and character driven games, so yes, they are rated differently. Why do fans flip over a 7? A seven is a good score.

[goldwyncq]

Yeah, what a bunch of hypocrites. Sony fanboys are the cancer of gaming.

[Stogz]

No, all fanboys are, you'd know all about that.

[SuperSonic91]

Unlike PlayStation fans Nintendo man children spew death threats when Jim Sterling gave Breath of the Wild an 8. So tell me is 8 a good score for Zelda BotW?

[Elda]

All are!!...don't say that in your opinion you think the Switch is lacking in interesting AAA exclusive software & they're ready to tar & feather you.The same goes for saying the same thing in XBO articles.

[SuperSonic91]

Honestly, Jim Sterling gave Zelda: BotW an 8.
Is 7 a good score for Zelda Breath of the Wild? Does it desrve it?

[michellelynn0976]

Wrong. Got any proof? They wanted him fired, which is a bit extreme. No different than Sony fans who wanted a woman fired from IGN for giving Uncharted 4 a 9 and ripping Adam Sessler gave Killzone 2 a 9.4.

[SuperSonic91]

@ Michelle go to his Tweeter pageand Youtube channel and see for your self.

Do not lie in broad day light.

[michellelynn0976]

So you can't back up your claim. And I did not lie. You just are being too one sided as usual.
https://m.youtube.com/watch...
https://www.kotaku.com.au/2...

[_-EDMIX-_]

sooooo it is starting to become very very clear that this Michelle individual seems to have a problem with the facts

Seriously is it really this hard to just admit someone might be wrong about something?

I mean this individuals comment history is riddled with them fighting people with actual proof with links and then simply trying to spin an argument into something else even with trying to definitively State something that is factually incorrect.

[Protagonist]

@michellelynn0976

the switch will never get AAA games of this caliber because it is to weak to run games like ni-no-kuni 2 ;)

[michellelynn0976]

Xenoblade is more advanced than this game. And you don't make up Namco's mind. Funny how Zelda is winning game of the year. A real AAA game. And I consider indie games like Golf Story more AAA than SWBF or ACO.

[r2oB]

Zelda is not a story and character driven game? Seriously, a RPG isn't story or character driven? Let me guess, since it's a Nintendo developed game it's driven soley but fun and charm? You can scale mountains and glide down, you can make food and set grass on fire, the world is the main character, NPCs are charming... 10/10 (literal talking points of the Zelda IGN review). It's almost insulting (to Nintendo) how low the standard of their games are in regards to reviews.

[michellelynn0976]

Oh how you vmfavor Sony so much, you can't be critical and fair. The story is there for you, but it is not Xenoblade. It is more about exploration, freedom and the sure size. They rate games based on the experience. Funny how I don't let reviews set me off.

[rainslacker]

Maybe some did, but most just expressed their disagreement, and once again....as in not for the first time....called IGN's ethical standards for for reviews into question. I hate it when people think that a small group of idiots is somehow indicative of an entire fan base. While passions can run high, most gamers of any console preference don't really care enough to actually get people fired, and most certainly don't condone or send death threats.

[michellelynn0976]

I know that, I was referring to the small percentage. Not the whole group.

[paintedgamer1984]

An 8 is the absolute lowest score id give nnk2... That being said, its a 9 on meta so who really cares what ign or secret xbox pro consumers think!

[Realms]

Who takes IGN reviews seriously? They are a joke and have been very inconsistent when reviewing games, they seriously deducted points for lack of character development and challenge? Mario has been the same Mario for decades, Zelda is mute that doesn't talk but ok IGN you have a different scoring scale for those games right.

[Kaii]

Stupid bastards, honestly.
How after all these years can that site be credible, but anyone voicing their dislike is "entitled brat" o_O

They can't even keep shit simple, what's with the .8 scoring ? Its leaning towards the 8 but due to some criticism we've narrowed it down to 7.8

Actually IGN Spain gave the game 9.2 lol
Looking forward to this game regardless

[Aceman18]

Ign America is a joke

[raidensnake]

Best call of duty ever 10/10 ign

[Chaosdreams]

Great innovation. Much change. Unique pew pew sounds. 10/10 ign

[TheColbertinator]

Steam queue set in motion. Thanks Level 5

[AizenSosuke]

Smoke weed IGN

[Hardiman]

Yeah look it's IGN! I for one can't wait to pick up my pre order!!!!!!

[ILostMyMind]

"Too much prettiness"

[Elda]

Buying this gorgeous game day one!

[kevnb]

IGN reviews are pointless, even if you ignore the score their reviews never really give me an idea what the game is like.

[FlyingFoxy]

Love how some people think 7.0 score is bad even though that's good and above average, even popular films are ranked in the 7.x range on sites like IMDB.

End of the day you play/watch what you enjoy, not what critics basically TELL you to enjoy. Don't be a sheep.

[InKnight7s]

Movies is veeeeeery broad production with massive audience and history of more than 120 years ago. Critisizing such a thing will reduce perfection scores. Games on other hand, been really like 30 years ago and audience is no near of movies. Games like "XYXY"got perfect scores for no reasons. Good games deserve more than "so called" 7.XX good score.

[CrystalFantasy]

Shameful review

[InKnight7s]

Not westrenized RPG.
7.8/10 IGN.

[inxine]

IGN, go home.

[fonger08]

After reading the majority of the reviews I’m not sure what the fanboy freak out is here. It’s a really a good game but just isn’t as good as the original. I mean was everyone expecting 9s and 10s? I for one cant wait to pick it up.

[DELTABOY04]

Look i dont usually do ratings on here but i have the game and is about 11hrs in..its a solid 9/10 the combat is better then ff15..just sayin

[TheOttomatic91]

IGN eh?

[CurbStompin]

IGN lol

Nothing to see here folks...

[343_Guilty_Spark]

7.8 is within the standard deviation for this game based on average of of 86

[drunkenspy007]

7.8? What type of score is that? If you're going to use decimals, just do a base out of a 100 score. Otherwise, just give the damn 8 score since this mathematically equals to on your system.