E3 2012 hands-on: Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch combines charm and action

Anyone who is a fan of either Level-5's stunning RPGs or Studio Ghibli's fantastic animated features should be frothing at the mouth for a chance to play the upcoming mash up Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch. A real-time action RPG, the game promises to offer the best of both studios rolled into one, with a sprinkle of music composed by Joe Hisaishi on top for good measure.

During my hands-on experience, I spent my time working through a short quest. There I was introduced to the world of Ni no Kuni; a parallel world filled with strange creatures and wondrous sights. The main character Oliver has traveled to this faraway place in an attempt to revive his mother Arie, who died after saving Oliver from drowning. He is joined by Drippy, a stuffed animal that was imbued with life by Oliver's tears of grief. Finding his mother isn't an easy task though, since she's locked up in a dungeon. During his adventures, Oliver will team up with people who seem familiar to him; very similar to the way the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion were to Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. Also, he will be able to befriend some of his enemies along the way and train them for battle.

Of course there are plenty of battles to be had as Oliver makes his way through the world. Every character has a familiar with special attacks or support properties. In the demo, Drippy serves as Oliver's familiar and dished out magic damage against the opponent. Switching between Oliver and Drippy was done simply by either pushing up or down on the D-pad.

Battle was pretty straightforward with focus on attacking, magic, and defense. Attacking the enemy with their weakness nets bonus damage, while defending when an enemy is charging up for a powerful attack will reduce your damage taken. Though my exposure to the new battle system was short, it felt intuitive enough for me to pick up and play with little or no instructions.

The graphics were nothing short of stunning, and the game was dripping with Studio Ghibli's influence. It was quite difficult to hear the music or any other sounds in the crowded area where I played the demo, but what I did hear was fantastic. While the demo captured the whimsical styling of Studio Ghibli and Level-5's masterful RPG elements perfectly, some localization issues need to be ironed out. A few words were misspelled, and some sentences weren't making complete sense. Although these problems don't detract from the experience overall, it's worth noting there's still some work left to be done. Hopefully all that will be cleared up in time for Wrath of the White Witch's North American release come January 2013.