Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

[Tooker]

How do you get the familiarity hearts up?  From feeding them?

[dyeager]

How do you get the familiarity hearts up?  From feeding them?

Yeah, they each have favorite types of food - hearts pop above their head when you give them something they like and that increases their familiarity hearts. Bit by bit.

[Klyde Chroma]

 The most important part of the food is getting the familiarity hearts up so you can gain an extra skill slot.  Honestly the starting familiars work pretty well.  I kept mine in the active party and still use Mitey even though I'm at the end of the game.  

I agree totally on the hearts thing...

Additionally I also still use Mitey (at the end of the game as well)....

What is cool about the familiar system is that it is very "forgiving".... you can easily abandon the the development of one familiar for another and catch it "up to speed" with the rest very easily.... don't worry about feeling too restricted in your selection or "stuck" using one because you've already poured time and treats into the little bugger....

On the treats note, I actually found I easily maintained a surplus of treats without really even trying. They certainly are not hard to come by, so I wouldn't be too frugal with them.

All of this meshed well together for me as there were quite a few creatures I liked and wanted to develop simply because they were charming and adorable, albeit useless in contrast to some of my other more battle worthy pets....

[Akanbe-]

On the treats note, I actually found I easily maintained a surplus of treats without really even trying. They certainly are not hard to come by, so I wouldn't be too frugal with them.

Indeed, they're all over the place.  If you actively use the Find Treasure (or whatever it's called) spell on the world map, you also will find a ton more.  Treasure is all over the world map.  Sometimes equipment or items, but quite often food.

All of this meshed well together for me as there were quite a few creatures I liked and wanted to develop simply because they were charming and adorable, albeit useless in contrast to some of my other more battle worthy pets....

Ditto.. I leveled a Wisp for awhile because they look pretty cool, but their magic stat just kind of sucks and the spells seemed mediocre unless you fed him gem stones.  Same issue with the ice maiden.

[Prime Mover]

Just started playing this game... it's really great. VERY Dragon Quest VIII. I've never heard anyone mention any similarity to DQVIII, but it's immediately obvious. Must have been done by the same team. Even Jo Haishi's music sounds extremely Dragon-Questy. Anyway, I loved DQVIII so this comes as a huge compliment. The cell shaded graphic style, the goofy villains with weird ways of talking, the lush over world, and all the billions of fun British accents.

Only slight criticism is that Oliver is not a believable american, you can hear his english accent poke through all the time. Reminds me of Peri from old Doctor Who... the American who wasn't. Not a problem. I just wish they hadn't tried to make him American, it gets in the way a bit.

Oh, definitely some Earthbound feel as well.

[Zendervai]

I think his accent was intentional. His mother has a british accent, and he's surrounded by american accents, so it makes sense that his accent would be somewhere between. He has my dad's accent actually. We call it the 'Mid-Atlantic'.

[Agent D.]

Just started playing this game... it's really great. VERY Dragon Quest VIII. I've never heard anyone mention any similarity to DQVIII, but it's immediately obvious. Must have been done by the same team. Even Jo Haishi's music sounds extremely Dragon-Questy. Anyway, I loved DQVIII so this comes as a huge compliment. The cell shaded graphic style, the goofy villains with weird ways of talking, the lush over world, and all the billions of fun British accents.

Only slight criticism is that Oliver is not a believable american, you can hear his english accent poke through all the time. Reminds me of Peri from old Doctor Who... the American who wasn't. Not a problem. I just wish they hadn't tried to make him American, it gets in the way a bit.

Oh, definitely some Earthbound feel as well.

Yeah, have you read this topic at all? I've mentioned repeatedly that this feels like DQ8.

[Datastorm]

Hello

I felt kind of stupid last night, I had exchanged a few cards for those initial merit boosts and was saving my cards for later, thinking that the other ones opened up as the game progressed...

Well little did I know that you had to buy everything in the tier one line for the next teir 2 line to open up lol..

Anyway just thought I would mention this in case somebody else did this.

[Agent D.]

Hello

I felt kind of stupid last night, I had exchanged a few cards for those initial merit boosts and was saving my cards for later, thinking that the other ones opened up as the game progressed...

Well little did I know that you had to buy everything in the tier one line for the next teir 2 line to open up lol..

Anyway just thought I would mention this in case somebody else did this.

Yep, this was covered earlier in the topic too. You can't advance til both requirements are met, story advancement and all prior purchases made.

[Klyde Chroma]

Hello

I felt kind of stupid last night, I had exchanged a few cards for those initial merit boosts and was saving my cards for later, thinking that the other ones opened up as the game progressed...

Well little did I know that you had to buy everything in the tier one line for the next teir 2 line to open up lol..

Anyway just thought I would mention this in case somebody else did this.

don't feel bad my friend.... i didn't figure that out until I was about 30 hours in-LoL

[Tooker]

I was the same.  When I finally bought the last of the first tier and a whole new row popped up, I thought "that's all it was waiting for at this point?"

[Akanbe-]

Heh, I was somewhat in the same boat until I decided to test the idea if that's what it took.

On a related note, I'm doing post-game content and trying to get the trophy for unlocking all the merit awards.  It's just not worth it.  So much grinding it's ridiculous.  The alchemy quest is by far the worst and I ran around for 20-30 minutes and fought 3-4 of the required enemy, but never was able to steal the correct item.  It's just bad luck, but annoying none the less.

I think I may do the conductor quests since it leads to a gold and leave it at that.

[Klyde Chroma]

Heh, I was somewhat in the same boat until I decided to test the idea if that's what it took.

On a related note, I'm doing post-game content and trying to get the trophy for unlocking all the merit awards.  It's just not worth it.  So much grinding it's ridiculous.  The alchemy quest is by far the worst and I ran around for 20-30 minutes and fought 3-4 of the required enemy, but never was able to steal the correct item.  It's just bad luck, but annoying none the less.

I think I may do the conductor quests since it leads to a gold and leave it at that.

^^^jealous^^^^

I have been saved in the final dungeon for about 3 days now.... got an Shin Megami Tensei itch and I knew if I finished Ni No right now I wouldn't even bother with the post game stuff in light of wanting to start persona 2 IS..... i think I will be tending to it within the next night or two though...

[Akanbe-]

I'd just take a night to finish it and forget about the post-game stuff.  It does expand upon Horace a bit and a certain Wizard but if you have a backlog I think time is better served elsewhere unless you really want the trophies.

Oddly enough, I'm about to start up P2:IS as well.

[Klyde Chroma]

I'd just take a night to finish it and forget about the post-game stuff.  It does expand upon Horace a bit and a certain Wizard but if you have a backlog I think time is better served elsewhere unless you really want the trophies.

Oddly enough, I'm about to start up P2:IS as well.

I may actually take tonite and finish it up depending on when I get my tattoo done this evening... in regard to horace I was wondering when they were going finally reveal something about him! now I'm kinda stoked for the post game stuff.... I was going to try to platinum this actually..... that is, until i realized how much familiar recruiting it requires.... SCREW THAT!!

There must be SMT in the air or something.... as for IS i was almost turned off by the first few hours and the horrific gameplay... I'm glad I stuck with it though as it just seems to be getting more and more interesting the further in I get :)