I am currently playing *Ni No Kuni 2* for some reason. I guess I have this habit of jumping into other games in a company's portfolio when I'm enjoying something else they've worked on, and that's been the case for me and Level-5's [[MEGATON MUSASHI W - WIRED (2024)|Megaton Musashi W - Wired]]. *NNK2* is better than I think a lot of people give it credit for. It plays very similarly to how I remember Level-5 doing *Dark Cloud 2*, so I'm surprised that it's so negatively remembered 5 or 6 years later. The common sentiment I've seen online, particularly in places like /r/JRPG seems to be that the story is too safe and predictable. But like - you remember what genre you're in right now, yeah? I've been pleasantly surprised by how much I'm enjoying it, even if it doesn't do much that's different. But something that I've resonated with heavily is Leafbook. Leafbook is a fictional social media that exists in the world of *Ni No Kuni 2*. With a click of the left-stick, you can access it and see what the citizens of the game's world are posting about. Folks. Leafbook is so cool. I love Leafbook so fucking much. I wish it was in every RPG. It's a delightful little mechanic that lets you take in *NNK2*'s world without having to run around and talk to every single NPC to get lore and flavor. The localization team does a perfect job of imitating the average social media post and its assorted comments, and it updates constantly as you progress through the game, reacting to King Evan and his party's exploits. There are so many types of posters that I'd somehow expect if social media existed in the world of a JRPG, and they're all very funny. There's the guy who always seem to have the tea on your party despite you never seeing him. There's a freak who's obsessed with getting as close to monsters as possible to take pics. There's a lady that just goes from town to town to eat delicious, ghibli-ass lookin' meals and review them. They even got the annoying Andrew Tate pick-up artist guy. This was in 2018! *NNK2* is literally ahead of its time!! It's so funny! ![[Tell Me Who Shitposts in Midgar-20240524144712999.png]] ## "Needless" Mechanics I needed to look up the name of the Leafbook because I forgot it when writing this piece, and stumbled across something very silly to me. When you search "Leafbook" online, you'll find so many posts on GameFAQs and Reddit that are like "okay, so does Leafbook *do* anything?" The response is usually just "no, you can safely skip it." Folks. What happened to fun? Yeah, Leafbook doesn't serve any mechanical purpose to the player outside of revealing treasure every now and then (there's a geocaching guy who leaves stuff for people to find). Yeah, liking a post doesn't do anything from a mechanical perspective. But it's still cute! It's still fun! You beat a boss and he literally doomposts about it on social media! I ask you again: *what happened to fun!?* ![[Tell Me Who Shitposts in Midgar-20240524144631232.png]] There's a point early on where one of your party members, Tani, swipes Evan's Leafbook to take a picture. It is, I am sad to say, not very good. ![[Tell Me Who Shitposts in Midgar-20240524145136135.png]] The comments mention it, and then later on, your Leafbook updates again. Tani has taken a significantly better picture, and everyone applauds her for her improvement. It's legitimately adorable. I love Leafbook because the idea of posting in a fantasy world is really funny to me, but also because it actually *does* make *NNK2* feel more lived-in. The first few posts you'll see that everyone thinks Evan is dead after the coup that happened in his kingdom. But as he starts to make a mark on the world, people realize that he's actually alive, and comment accordingly. That's so neat! Again, I want this in more games! Which leads me to the name of this piece. What other games should have their own Leafbooks? What should they be called? Who's posting on them? I can see Tifa taking pictures of the drinks at 7th Heaven in *FF7*, or Magilou delivering the most unhinged shitposts imaginable in *Tales of Berseria*. The possibilities are endless. Besides that that's all I've got! Nothing too indepth here. I just really like Leafbook as a concept lol. Thanks for reading!