Author Topic: Knights in the Nightmare - DS  (Read 2240 times)

Offline Quemaqua

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Knights in the Nightmare - DS
« on: Friday, June 26, 2009, 01:01:58 PM »
This is a very, very weird game.  Fortunately, it's also a very cool one!  At least from what I've played so far.

I read that review just the other day and decided on the spot I had to give it a shot, so I picked it up.  Basically, it's a strategy RPG akin to Final Fantasy Tactics or Disgaea, except... that it's nothing like those at all.  I'll try to describe it as succinctly as I can: take that general gridded-battlefield-SRPG setup, but make the units invincible and mostly stationary, make their attacks differ wildly based on what weapon they use, and then turn the stylus cursor into an incorporeal main character (which they call the Wisp - a soul, more or less) who can get hit as he attempts to doge bullet-hell attacks from the enemies on the battlefield.  It's an SRPG with a shmup thrown over the top of it, really, but saying it like that makes it sound really stupid, when it's actually quite interesting.  You're literally battling within the menu system, as it were, as you attempt to get your units to do things.  So the enemies are exploding and tossing things around the screen periodically as you're commanding your units to attack them, and you're dodging the madness happening onscreen while you attempt to drag items from the item slots onto your units so they can charge up attacks, etc.

It's really strange, but it's a pretty cool idea that seems to work really well.  It's frantic because you're concerned with the actual stats of the allies and enemies on the field, but in just trying to see how Archer 2 over there is doing, you have to dodge stuff to actually get the cursor on him to read his info.  Then if you see the perfect opportunity as several enemies move into a row so you can blast them with a powerful longbow attack, you have to get your cursor over to the item bar on the side and drag the weapon back to the character, then sit it on him for a sec so he can charge.  Only then you get to watch him do the attack.  And baddies are literally loot pinatas that explode into stuff you'll frantically send your wisp around trying to collect, like mana crystals or special items.  It then gets more complicated because there are two "modes" you can be in - Law or Chaos.  You can only use certain items in one mode or another, and while you can switch it at will, there's a dynamic that penalizes you for letting it sit on one for too long.

As mentioned, nobody has health in the normal sense.  There's a timer in the corner that runs whenever you do anything with a character or allow the wisp to get hit with bullets.  Thus you have a set number of times you can really charge attacks for each character before the "turn" is over, and taking damage as the wisp will reduce how many attacks you get.  Your units do have a health of sorts, but you actually spend it in making attacks, not in taking damage from enemies, and enemy health regen is the big problem, because you'll have to spend more and more of your own unit's vitality to attack if the enemy regens a bunch of HP.  And it doesn't reset between battles or anything, your units only get more VIT upon leveling up or getting fused with another character (you're basically commanding an army of ghosts, so you can sacrifice them into one another for boosts, and you can do a similar kind of thing with weapons, which also have a set number of uses before they'll get broken and disappear).

Anyway, it's pretty complicated to describe, but it's quite cool.  If the basic idea sounds at all unique or appealing to you, you should give it a look.  The art style is really nice, and the music is pretty fantastic.  Atlus again came through with a really nice package, so you get a nice-looking outer box for the whole thing, and on the inside is the usual game box plus a music CD with a whole mess of tracks.  Not bad at all.

I do really like the art.  It's mostly just nice-looking sprites, but the environments and larger character portraits have a very dark, forbidding, and artsy look to them.  Almost maybe like an anime-styled Disciples II.







Sorry about the screens.  It's hard to find anything that looks very compelling.  Watch this GameTrailers preview for a better idea of the thing.

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline TheOtherBelmont

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Re: Knights in the Nightmare - DS
« Reply #1 on: Friday, June 26, 2009, 01:41:27 PM »
Damn, that looks awesome, I may need to pick that up soon even if I don't play it right away since I've got a couple of other games I want to finish first.

Slighty unrelated to the topic, but Atlus also just released that new Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor game too for the DS that looks pretty interesting as well.  Damn you Atlus!

Offline nickclone

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Re: Knights in the Nightmare - DS
« Reply #2 on: Saturday, June 27, 2009, 09:10:04 AM »
I like Knights In the Nightmare, but one thing I really hate is how you have to recruit new allies and how you have to keep them. Having to break objects on the battlefield to get key items can get tiresome, but transouling is the worst part. Whats the point of building up your characters if their just going to break down? To stop them from happening, you have to combine them which causes you to lose one of them in the process.

I've just started Devil Survivor and so far I like it, but it's super heavy on the dialogue which can make the game feel like it's dragging on.

Offline TheOtherBelmont

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Re: Knights in the Nightmare - DS
« Reply #3 on: Wednesday, September 08, 2010, 12:00:21 PM »
Figured I'd bump this thread because Altus is being awesome.  If you buy the PSP version of Knights in the Nightmare coming out in November you get Sting's other game Yggdra Union with it for free.  Anyone who doesn't own Knights yet should consider jumping on this deal if you have a PSP.

Offline idolminds

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Re: Knights in the Nightmare - DS
« Reply #4 on: Wednesday, September 08, 2010, 12:14:45 PM »
Wow, thats pretty cool.

Offline Cobra951

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Re: Knights in the Nightmare - DS
« Reply #5 on: Thursday, September 09, 2010, 09:04:44 AM »
Oh, heh.  Now I remember Yggdra Union.  I have the, er, GBA/PC version.  All I know about it is that it's nearly incomprehensible without instructions.  I couldn't even figure out how to get into that first battle, so I gave up.  Not that I put in a whole lot of effort.  Is it worthwhile?  I'm not a fan of card fighting games.

Offline gpw11

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Re: Knights in the Nightmare - DS
« Reply #6 on: Thursday, September 09, 2010, 05:24:59 PM »
Hmmm...I still haven't played Knights for the DS or Yggdra for the GBA.  Yay or nay?

Offline TheOtherBelmont

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Re: Knights in the Nightmare - DS
« Reply #7 on: Thursday, September 09, 2010, 06:03:29 PM »
I haven't played Yggdra, but Knights was pretty fun for the DS.  Que did a good job of explaining the way the game works in his original post.  Some of the battles were pretty tough in the later part of the game, but very rewarding when you finally beat them, overall it was a pretty interesting game.  Very different from a lot of other games I've played.

Offline nickclone

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Re: Knights in the Nightmare - DS
« Reply #8 on: Thursday, September 09, 2010, 06:37:54 PM »
Yggdra Union is a pretty fun game, I played it on the PSP, but it can be played on just about any current system or even the GBA.

However, I couldn't imagine playing Knights on anything other than the DS.