Might as well break the ice right away, although Studio Ghibli did not participate in the development of Ni No Kuni 2: Rise of a New Kingdom, the latter has lost none of the charm of the first episode. It is in any case the first remark that immediately comes to mind when we discover for the first time the game and its hero Evan. An impression that we owe to Yoshiyuki Momose, the title's character designer who previously worked on the animation of Porco Rosso and Spirited Away, two films from studio Ghibli. If we could expect a less enchanting game than its predecessor, we must admit that the Level-5 teams were able to brilliantly transcribe the charm of Ni No Kuni: Revenge of the Celestial Witch. An attention to detail that can also be found in the game's scenario.
A KINGDOM IN THE LAND OF CANDY
After a brief cinematic that explains how Roland found himself teleported to the Second World, we enter directly into the hot topic. Evan, future king of the kingdom of Carabas, must hastily leave his country following the coup organized by Ratoleon, a being with more than dubious intentions. Fortunately, he can count on the unexpected arrival of Roland to succeed in escaping the kingdom. With the help of his new friend, who by the way has taken quite a facelift, Evan then decides to go into exile in order to found a new Kingdom where all people can live their lives in joy and good humor. Only downside, a certain Kundal manipulates the kings of other kingdoms the already precarious stability of the Second World. Then follows a long journey during which our two friends will cross paths with many characters with very different origins and stories. If we can blame the scenario for falling from time to time in the facility, the mastery of the story and the abundance of good feelings give a special charm to the whole. Each part of the story tackles fairly serious themes (surveillance of the population, corruption, the dangers of new technologies, etc.) without making the whole thing dramatic. A bit like the feel good movies, Ni No Kuni 2 is a concentrate of good humor that we devour with pleasure.
A CLEAR GAMEPLAY
But before you can complete Evan and his friends' quest, you'll have to fight to prove your bravery. If the visual charm of the first episode has been retained, Level-5 has completely turned the gameplay of its game upside down, this time focusing on action. No more multiple menus to choose your attacks and your spells since here, everything is done by quickly pressing certain keys. During combat, your character can launch quick or powerful attacks (Square or Triangle) and all your spells are triggered by simply pressing the R2 + Cross key (Round, Triangle or Square). To help you during the most difficult confrontations, you can count on the presence of Moss, small magical creatures that have powers linked to their affinity (water, fire, electricity, etc.). Of course, you will also have to parry or dodge enemy attacks depending on how powerful they are.
The other interesting novelty of the game is the possibility of equipping several weapons on your characters so that they can change equipment on the fly during a fight. If this will allow you to do more damage when you use a weapon that has a stronger affinity than that of your enemy, you can also multiply the hits with a specific weapon in order to fill its power gauge. Once the gauge is filled to 100%, you will be able to use devastating special attacks. It is therefore up to you to choose one strategy over another depending on the situation. Therefore, we end up with a much more dynamic combat system than its predecessor. Between the presence of Moss, the special abilities of your weapons and your special attacks, you will have plenty of tools at your disposal to tackle each fight in the best possible way. Everything is fluid and the combos are chained without problem. On the other hand, it must be admitted that the fights are sometimes a little too easy. When you understand the workings of this style of gameplay, you end up quickly gaining the upper hand over your opponents even if they have higher levels than ours. Fortunately, the acquisition of new special attacks and more powerful Moss permanently brings a breath of fresh air to the fights.
DRAW ME A CASTLE
To make your characters more powerful, you will first have to consolidate your kingdom via the "Kingdom" mode. The action side of the title then gives way to an equally interesting management part. In addition to building your castle, you will also have to manage the development of your city's infrastructure in order to have access to new powers, new weapons and rare resources (food, metals, wood, etc.). A real kingdom cannot be built by a single man, you will first have to recruit citizens, after having done them a small service, so that they join your city and participate in the life of the latter. You will then have to select people according to their skills so that they bring their expertise to the different businesses in your city. For example, by placing a weapon specialist in the forge, you can speed up the R&D phases that allow you to obtain or more powerful items. 
Very quickly, you realize that there are a lot of things to manage in your city and you can quickly spend several hours in this mode in order to create a majestic kingdom. The menus are clear and concise, and even if it will be necessary to carefully read the tutorials in order to fully assimilate all the subtleties of this mode, after a few sessions we manage everything in a natural way. On the other hand, the "Kingdom" mode can quickly take precedence over the action and it will be necessary to return regularly to this mode in order to fully develop the potential of our characters. Suddenly, the rhythm of the game is erratic and if we forget a little too much the Kingdom mode, we can quickly find ourselves blocked. Indeed, to evolve your city, you will have to use gold coins which can only be won by waiting. To top it all off, there is a maximum limit to the gold you can amass, which means that you will have to return to your kingdom regularly in order to collect the jackpot. Otherwise, you may have to wait a very long time. So remember to alternate, it will save you a lot of trouble.
THE GHIBLI TOUCH WITHOUT GHIBLI
This concern for balance, between these two essential game phases of Ni No Kuni 2, is also felt when you discover the environments of the title. The cel-shading is simply perfect and sublimates the artistic direction of the game. The characters, as well as the major cities of the Second World, are modeled with the greatest care and we take pleasure in observing the multitude of details that make up each area of the game. The bestiary is varied and throughout the adventure, we discover new monsters, each stranger than the next. The abundance of visual effects during the fights brings a real plus and we can only remain amazed at the work done by the Level-5 teams. On PS4 Pro (4K and HDR activated) the game is simply sublime. Anti-aliasing is almost non-existent and the brilliant colors of the game constantly captivate us. If we could expect to see a game less enchanting than its predecessor, we must admit that the developers have not been idle, each zone having its own identity. 
The only downside is that the studio had the strange idea of creating a "Travel" mode that allows you to move between cities and instanced areas of the game. If in fact it allows you to move quickly (thanks to points of teleportation), the execution of the mode is far from being up to par with the rest of the game. We find ourselves controlling Chibi-style characters and the scenery is horribly ugly when compared to those of the cities and other major areas of the game. Well, in itself it's not dramatic since after a while you can easily override this mode thanks to the dozens of teleportation points that allow you to travel to the four corners of the world without incident. Despite everything, we are still disappointed by discovering these empty and gloomy areas. Especially since at the start of the game, you will have to go through this stage to move around. As a result, we alternate between wonder and disappointment. A real open world would have given a whole new dimension to the game and for once, we are left unsatisfied.
A GENEROUS KING
If we can blame Level-5 for a few bad tastes, it is clear that the studio has been generous towards the players. Just to finish the main adventure, you will need at least 35 hours of play (much more if you don't think about managing your kingdom) and if you want to discover all the mysteries of the world of Ni No Kuni 2, you can easily double that number. Dozens and dozens of side quests will flesh out your journey and allow you to recruit more people to your kingdom, which in time will allow you to become even more powerful. To bring a little more diversity to the game, you can also take part in Battles against enemy armies. In this strategy-based game mode, you control four groups of soldiers that you can rotate around Evan using the L1 and R1 keys. Each unit has strengths and weaknesses, so you will have to prepare your army according to the enemies that stand in front of you. If in fact this game mode is quite nice, you end up getting tired quickly. While the special powers of each troop can vary the clashes but after a while we end up tirelessly repeating the same actions to such an extent that we abandon this mode. The icing on the cake is that the "Battle" mode takes place on the map of the "Travel" mode. So in addition to being bored, we find it ugly. Frankly, we wonder why Level-5 wanted to add this mode so much. The recruitment of new soldiers is quite interesting but apart from that, the rest is rather banal or even useless.
Unless all this is done so that we listen even more to the majestic musical compositions of Joe Hisaishi which were recorded with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. Each music, perfectly adapted to the situation, subtly underlines the enchanting side of the game and makes the adventure of Ni No Kuni 2 unforgettable. On the other hand, we remain skeptical about the English dubbing. The voice actors sometimes lack inspiration and fail to convey all the emotions of a character with their voice. Better to go with the Japanese voices if you really want to enjoy a good dubbing. Fortunately, we can count on the impeccable localization of the title. The texts in French are hard-hitting, well written and the comic side of the dialogues has been preserved. Whether you're an avid reader or not, you easily get carried away by the myriad dialogues that dot the game. Without even realizing it, you end up giving importance to any minor conversation, a sign that the translation is mastered from start to finish.
