After raking in millions of dollars from its first 11 days during Asia's launch, it was only a matter of time before Level-5 and Netmarble's new MMORPG Ni No Kuni: Cross Worlds would see a global release. Ni No Kuni: Cross Worlds currently has a seat for one of the best MMOs on Android, praised for the stunning graphics, and having a Studio Ghibli-inspired world to experience on your favorite Android gaming phone.
Like any other mobile MMORPG, the systems within can quickly grow cumbersome, so Android Police is here to help you decipher these mechanics. We have assembled a beginner's guide to aid new players, familiarizing everyone with the basic gameplay, core systems like classes and familiars, and the best practices to strengthen your account.
Getting started
Ni No Kuni: Cross Worlds transports you to a Studio Ghibli-designed world where an unnamed Kingdom is under siege. You'll meet up with Cluu, your guide, to teach you the ways of adventuring. Follow Cluu around; he'll walk you through the game's battle basics, illustrating that your battle skills are bound to a cooldown system and that your health bar dictates your survival.
Aspects of the battle system and general upgrades unlock as you progress through the main story quest. Story quests will be blocked off if your reputation level is too low, so you'll have to grind side quests to keep progressing through the main story.
Retaining strong elemental coverage when equipping weapons is essential since everything is attached to an elemental type. Elements in Ni No Kuni: Cross Worlds follow a rock-paper-scissors mechanic.
Earth beats water, water beats fire, fire beats earth, and light/darkness counter each other. Utilizing the correct weapons ensures you'll dish out the most damage against enemies.
Autoplay
Autoplay is sometimes an awkward feature, especially for a game that's supposed to immerse you in a breathtaking Studio Ghibli-inspired world rendered in 3D, so if you're looking to be involved with the gameplay instead of letting the game play itself, you can, though this will slow your progress. Note: Autoplay has its perks when you require a break from playing but still wish to spectate the game.
To turn on and off autoplay, tap on the quest dialogue box while on the field. When autoplay is turned on, your character follows a course and will run to each quest objective and auto-battle monsters found along the way.
You'll want to turn off autoplay for potions since it'll help you stock up on them for more challenging content later.
- Open up the main menu and tap on settings (gear icon).
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Tap on Game, then scroll to 'Potions' and slide to 0 % on 'Auto-Use HP Potions' and tap Manual in 'Auto HP Potion Change.'
Classes and familiars
You can customize a character tied to a class and recruit familiars (creature companions) in Ni No Kuni: Cross Worlds. Classes determine your combat capabilities and your role on a team. Select a class that reflects how you'll want to play. Thankfully you can enroll one character per class on the same server, but unfortunately, your story progress won't carry over.
Classes
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Engineer: Long-ranged support class that enables team play with her healing and support skills.
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Destroyer: Primary tank class that soaks up front-line aggro; he excels at survivability with his naturally high health and defense stats.
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Rogue: Long-ranged damage dealer class uses a bow to take down his enemies.
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Swordsman: Melee damage dealer class utilizes a sword to pierce through his enemies.
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Witch: Mid-ranged damage dealer class specializing in using a magical spear to deal damage while applying debuffs on her enemies.
Familiars
One of the primary gacha features includes summoning more familiar companions. Familiars can fight alongside you and offer classes/elements. You can equip up to three familiars.
Ni No Kuni: Cross Worlds generously allows summoning for a starting familiar at level 5 (quest reward). It's like Pokémon, you're given a choice of a 4-star starter (three in the pool), but you only have 10 chances to re-roll to claim a different one.
Possible 4-star starters:
- Mite (fire)
- Suiryu (water)
- Oroboros (earth)
Eventually, you'll unlock training, hatching, and taming for your familiars as you progress further, indicating fairly early how impactful familiars will become in Ni No Kuni: Cross Worlds.
Leveling up
Gaining character levels is central in Ni No Kuni: Cross Worlds. Quests and features unlock as you start leveling up. Following the main story and completing side quests nets many experience points. Once you've unlocked Swift Solutions, you'll want to complete Bert's daily tasks (e.g., exterminating X monsters in a zone). Eventually, you can increase the number of tasks provided by working on Swift Solutions certifications. Still, for now, you'll zoom through the beginner levels just by completing five tasks daily.
Heart star system
To boost your base attributes, you can invest in the Heart Star system, which acts like skill trees; these trees are like constellations and are level-locked. Unlocking nodes will increase a base stat, and you need to spend resources like Sparkling Hearts. To acquire these resources, you have to participate in Familiar Forest and Familiar Adventure (unlocked at level 33).
Familiar Forest is where you visit your Familiars daily and bond with them to receive gifts, the sought resources. At the same time, Familiar Adventure is a mini-game that sends out your familiars to fight other familiars to occupy gathering sites, which produces the material needed for the Heart Star system.
Multiplayer
Arguably the most remarkable feature is the ability to play with other players on your server, ultimately making new friends. You can add players through the social menu and check your profile in your friend list. You'll have the opportunity to invite other players to join your party. Forming parties can ease monster clearing in a challenging area and is also helpful for limited-time events where you can take on quests with your mates.
Kingdoms
You can grow a community by joining a Kingdom similar to a clan system in most MMOs. To unlock kingdoms, you'll have to complete "Evermore — Survivors of the Nameless Kingdom" (reputation quest).
Joining a kingdom unlocks more rewards and new modes for large-scale content where you'll face against the environment or compete against other kingdoms. We've included examples of modes you'll commonly see:
- Defense: PvE mode is similar to a tower defense game where your kingdom must fight against waves of monsters before they destroy the heart of your kingdom.
- Invasion: PvP mode where you fight against another kingdom by participating in attack and defense formations.
- Relic Wars: PvP mode where different kingdoms fight for map control, which yields points, and the kingdom scoring the majority of these points, wins.
Winning in these modes will grant rewards, but most importantly, Kingdom Coins, which are used to buy exp (to help increase your kingdom's rank) and stat buffs for your kingdom in the Kingdom General Store.
Every kingdom receives a rank, and if you are the number one kingdom on the server, you'll have the authority to choose the Kingdom Capital. The Kingdom Capital controls policies and decisions for the entire server. It's why battling out for the top spot is so important, so you can potentially have a say on the future of your server.
Other PvP modes
You might not be as interested in large-scale PvP content, but you still can play in more personalized PvP. Ni No Kuni: Cross Worlds offers three additional PvP modes, which we've summarized below.
- Duel Yard: 1v1 PvP mode where you'll earn Honor Medals and training points.
- Lava Valley: Team-based PvP ranked mode where you'll form a team with three other players placed in a similar league as your character to earn seasonal rewards.
- Familiar Arena: PvP mode for your familiars (attack and defense teams) to earn materials for Competitive Heart Star.
Ni No Kuni: Cross Worlds is a magical journey shared with players
Ni No Kuni: Cross Worlds is already among our best MMORPGs on Android. The relaxed gameplay is an excellent opportunity to kick back while running into like-minded Soul Divers to befriend, which is why we included the app below. And if you need a break from the MMO grind, we have a large selection of other highly rated Android games to check out.