Ni No Kuni Out Today For PlayStation 3

Today is the day that RPG fans have been waiting for as Level-5 and Studio Ghibli's Ni no Kuni arrives for the PlayStation 3. Mixing a monster-collecting mechanic and a fighting engine that combines real-time with turn-based, Ni no Kuni looks to offer everything genre-starved fans have been waiting for.

I think it's fair to say that this current console generation hasn't been too kind to the RPG fan. With only a few titles popping up a year starring amnesia-stricken heroes, giant-sword-wielding villains and the like, the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii simply haven't offered the deluge of titles fans became accustomed to in the previous generation of consoles.

In a way, Ni no Kuni has set itself up as the long-awaited savior for the RPG genre, likely one of the last big fantasy adventures of its kind that will be released before the start of the next console generation. Luckily, with a current Metacritic score of 87, it looks like the wait for a good RPG has been well worth it.

Coming from the talented developers at Level-5 (Dark Cloud series, Rogue Galaxy, White Knight Chronicles) and the legendary artists at Studio Ghibli (Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Totoro), Ni no Kuni tells the story of a young boy named Oliver, whose mother recently passed away. On a quest to find her in another worlld, oliver must travel to Ni no Kuni, befriend goofy strangers, train various creatures and compete in epic battles.

If all of that looked like a grand ole' time (And, really, how could it not?), then get ready to dive into the world of Ni no Kuni. It releases in stores today for the PlayStation 3 and will be available as a day-one download on the PlayStation Store once the weekly update goes live later this afternoon.