Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A complicated nightmare (but still very fun), June 5, 2009
Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars
Knights in the Nightmare is quite possibly the most complicated console/hand-held game I've ever played. I've poured hours into this game and I have yet to feel like I've done more than scratch the surface. This game is pretty massive and has a steep learning curve, but I think that it is worth it for anyone willing to get past that learning curve.
GAMEPLAY: The basic premise of Knights in the Nightmare (KitN) is that you play a wisp, which floats around battlefields and issues commands to statically placed units on a battlefield map. Your units, the spirits of dead knights and soldiers, are invincible and do not take damage, but the wisp can be attacked by enemies. Before battles you are given the chance to station your units on the battlefield and assign equipment to be used. The battlefields remind me of Riviera or Ogre Battle, but the gameplay is almost like an action-arcade-puzzler mixed with a little bit of bullet-hell shooter and Ikaruga style elements tossed in as well. I really have a hard time describing the gameplay because it is so unique and there is literally nothing like it that I can closely compare it to. I recommend looking up some gameplay videos to get an idea of how it moves because seeing it in motion was really the only way I started to understand the game. And if you do decide to purchase this game, by all means, work through the tutorials! I can't emphasize that enough. Just jumping into this game without completing the tutorials and actually paying attention to them will result in a lot of frustration and failed attempts.
GRAPHICS: Beautiful art style with lush colors. While all of the art appears to be 2d sprites, these are some of the best done sprites on the system.
STORY: I'm several hours into the game and the story is deep and involved. My only complaint is that it doesn't seem like my actions have a lot of impact on the story progression.
REPLAY VALUE: KitN allows you to replay any battle that you've completed, near as I can tell. There are a massive amount of items and levels. You can level up your characters both within and outside the storyline, but I have been sticking to the storyline personally.
SOUND: Great music in a classic fantasy RPG style. I was lucky enough to get a copy of KitN that included the soundtrack, which is nice if you can get it. With or without the CD pack-in, my review of this game would still remain the same.
Despite the super steep learning curve, KitN has very few shortcomings. Some people will see the learning curve and complexity as a good thing and others will hate it. The biggest shortcoming that I see that almost anyone would agree upon is the limited number of save slots. With one and only one save slot, the game pretty much can't be enjoyed or shared by more than one player. Considering the immense number of items and characters in the game, I understand why this limitation is in place because the save files are probably quite large, but it is still a let down.
I will say that this game isn't for everyone. I am personally having a lot of fun with the title, even after I had a few false starts and decided to start the game over from scratch. Fans of puzzle games and classic RPGs will likely be the best target audience for this game, but the difficulty and game concept are probably going to drive a lot of people into the love-it-or-hate-it zone. If you are considering buying this title, I highly recommend watching some online gameplay videos just so you know what you're getting into.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An ambitious, innovative smash-up of rpg strategy, bullet dodging, and reflex mini games with awesome production values, June 8, 2009
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
Don't be intimated by this genre defying masterpiece. The graphics are gorgeous and the sound amazing with typical Atlus/Sting high quality storyline and characters. The game looks confusing but is actually quite simple. The interactive "first steps" tutorial is a must and reading the other tutorial and tips sections are worth it.
As for game play, A lot of the stuff on the screen is just info overload and you don't have to pay attention to it other than it looks real pretty. As a first time player the hardest thing to get used to is the pacing and that you really have a lot more time than it seems. Don't panic! The most important thing is to get used to looking at the top screen and not the bottom one so much. The bottom is there for reference, but the top is all the visual cues so you need to get comfortable syncing your hand movements on the bottom with the dodging and skill activation on the top.
Skill activation also takes some getting used to as it won't happen if you do it too fast. You need to get the wisp cursor on the weapon, make sure it becomes floating, and then drag it over your character to activate the attack, then drag the wisp in the direction you want to attack. The last part is most important as the characters will rotate and you'll be able to hit more targets all at once.
Collecting gems and medium material after attacks provides you the means to upgrade weapons. Weapons can also be fused together to make them more durable and powerful and clean up your inventory.
You beat enemies to fill up a tic-tac-toe grid to progress to the next level. In between battles you have a slot machine reel that must be timed correctly to make sure you keep fighting the same enemy and kill them within a certain number of turns. This is a unique mechanic and makes you plan which row you want to fill based on the enemies and order of the grid and reels.
It's a little complicated but you get used to it after a few tries. The ability to level up your characters by replaying a scenario is good as you don't necessarily have to try and advance the story if you characters are week and in need of grinding. I wish you could save more often as you can only do it between levels, but you can always put the system to sleep.
I really like this game a lot and it's super deep with a lot of varied strategy. The tic-tac-toe reels are a quirky but cool addition to the strategy - bullet dodge mechanic. If you take the time to learn about the game you'll be well rewarded with awesome visuals, music, and an engaging storyline. This game may be tough to find, but it's going to be a rare instant classic!
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Steep Learning Curve but Great game., June 6, 2009
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
I will have to say that hands down this game is both one of the most visually appealing games as well as challenging. It is a mix of action/puzzling/Bullet dodging game play.
Gameplay:If you do not take the time to watch and play through the tutorial this may result in utter confusion and uneeded stress. The gameplay takes place in zone type battles where the player controls a wisp. You float around possessing your allied knights (whom can not be hurt) and issue them commands using items on the side. Fights take place in rounds in which you have to eliminate enemies of certian types to fill in a grid clearing the stage.
Story:Bit convaluted at first but you slowly come to relize your the spirit of a king whose been freed by a young female knight. More is slowly coming as inbetween each stage is usually about 2-3 minutes of story time.
Pros: Very beautiful art style, Great soundtrack, Amazing ingame battle animations as effects. Litteraly over 100 allies to recruit and hundreds of weapons to collect. Good replay ability letting you play all the levels you beat with different characters.
Cons: Navigating the menus sometimes is a bit difficult to find the character or items you need. Even with the tabs on the sides they don't clearly label which character is where, requiring you to remember up to over 100 characters locations. Only one save makes it so you can not really let someone else experince this.
Overall I would have to say this is one of the games that makes me enjoy owning a DS to its full extent. For any person who calls them a true gamer should pick this up.
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