When comparing Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom vs Grim Dawn, the Slant community recommends Grim Dawn for most people. In the question“What are the best Action RPG games on Steam?” Grim Dawn is ranked 1st while Ni No Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom is ranked 29th. The most important reason people chose Grim Dawn is:
Basically you choose 1 class and select skills as you level up. At level 10 you can select a second class, which already gives you 5x5=25 character type possibilities. Each character has dozens of skills, plus you have this additional passive skill tree that you unlock through cleansing shrines. Then there is item customization with crafted "modifiers", adding additional unique stats and skills that you can use, all this adds literally to thousands / millions of character possibilities. Do you want to use a double weapon shooting lightning bolts? You can do that. Do you want to summon your creatures and support them with fireballs? You can do that as well, you can push it wherever you want.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro The kingdom building is satifsying and strangely addicting
One of the cool features is the ability to plan and build your own living, breathing kingdom. You can build and upgrade a variety of different buildings. These buildings provide bonuses such as being able to craft better weapons and armor, providing special rare items, and generating income. By traversing the world and completing quests for characters, you can recruit them to your cause. They'll join your kingdom as a citizen, and you can assign them to work on any building that suits their skillset.
You can also return to your kingdom anytime you want, making it a nice little home base type area to relax between battles. All in all, it's a fun little sidegame. It's strangely addicting to watch your kingdom grow over time as your newly recruited citizens generate you money and special items.
Pro The combat is simple but entertaining
The combat is as simple as swinging your weapon and dodging attacks. It's quick to jump in without a steep learning curve. You may feel a bit overpowered at times, but that just adds to the action as you're dispatching enemies with ease. You won't be fighting alone though. Your pets add a little bit of depth to the combat. They can heal you, and zap your foes with various elemental attacks. You also have the ability to swap them out at will, so it will keep things fresh for quite a while. Some of the bosses have puzzle type encounters where you'll have to use specific pets, but for the most part the choice is up to you.
Pro Great starter RPG experience for younger players
With it's cartoonish graphics, anime-based characters, and simple to understand combat, this is a great game for the younger generation of gamer to get into RPGs. Nothing feels overly challenging throughout the duration of the game. The story moves along at a nice pace to prevent boredom and hold your attention. Just when you think you don't know what to do or where to go next, a helpful dialogue box will appear that teaches you a new game mechanic or guides you on the next step. All in all, it's a great game to get your kids or more casual gaming friends into the RPG genre.
Pro There's a fun pet collecting and leveling system
There's cute little creatures you can collect during your travels called Higgledies. Not only are they adorable, but they are quite fierce little fighters. They will heal and fight alongside you, adding to the fun of combat. If you have a particular one you enjoy, you can level it up to help it gain stronger powers. You can swap them in and out during combat, and some bosses even have weaknesses to specific ones.
Pro Complex leveling system with thousands of possible builds
Basically you choose 1 class and select skills as you level up. At level 10 you can select a second class, which already gives you 5x5=25 character type possibilities.
Each character has dozens of skills, plus you have this additional passive skill tree that you unlock through cleansing shrines. Then there is item customization with crafted "modifiers", adding additional unique stats and skills that you can use, all this adds literally to thousands / millions of character possibilities.
Do you want to use a double weapon shooting lightning bolts? You can do that. Do you want to summon your creatures and support them with fireballs? You can do that as well, you can push it wherever you want.
Pro Great homage to old school ARPGs
This game is very dark, and grim. It harkens back to games like Diablo 2 or Titans Quest. While other ARPGs have come out since then, none have hit all the marks of what fans of the genre have been asking for. For those that wish for an updated version of Diablo 2, Grim Dawn is the game for them.
Pro Exploration
Pro Highly modifiable
Relevant in modern gaming because the community can keep products like this fresh and varied, even if the developers eventually decide to slow down their updates (which they have not!). The possibilities are great with modding, while the experiences in Diablo 3 and Path of exile are a lot more static.
Pro Drop-in co-op (online and local)
Co-op is pretty convenient as players can drop in and out of your gaming session at any time. This way there is no wasted time jumping out of ones game in order to find players to play with.
Cons
Con Skirmish mode feels like something you have to trudge through, rather than enjoy
The Skirmish mode allows you take your armies out in a watered down RTS style mode in which you move your units around and watch them fight in a rock paper scissors type battle system. However, some quests require this mode far too often to the point of it becoming grindy and repetitive. It's novelty wears off quickly due it's simplistic nature. Essentially, it ends up feeling like you're doing the same battle over and over.
Con Main character walks way too slow
Until you unlock fast travel waypoints and pick up some speed boosts to your walking later in the game, the extremely slow pace at which you move can be downright annoying. Walking through the sprawling dungeons or between towns just doesn't feel like it matches the brisk pace of the story itself, and tends to make certain parts of the game drag on where they shouldn't.
Con Some weird inconsistencies in the voice acting presentation
From time to time the voice acting will suddenly stop mid conversation and only display the written dialogue. It's almost as if they forgot to record some lines. It tends to happen randomly and can be a bit distracting and immersion breaking when it occurs, such as listening to half a conversation and then having to read the rest.
Con Only some builds are fun
There is a definite meta, with superefficient vs non-viable builds.
It's easy to mess up a build, and attribute and spec-bar points are non-respeccable (you can use a cheat editor, but devs want you to reroll a new char).
Con Difficult to move when fighting, especially when you are ranged
Con Static pre-rendered levels
This may cut down on replayability a bit as all the levels in the game are pre-rendered, meaning that each playthrough will have the exact same layout, making for something that can get tiring and too familiar. Similar games have gone with randomized levels, which can keep the game fresh. While Grim Dawn is meant to be a throwback to earlier games in the genre, some newer features found in more recent released would have been welcome.
Con Lots of trips to town
The majority of loot in the game can be useless, with odd stat restrictions or repeats of vendor items. This means the user will need to make many trips into town to sell it all off in order to have room for even more loot they will not necessarily need.