Knights in the Nightmare
7.2
10
13
13
Don't bother
I was so excited when I read about this game, so I went out and bought is as soon as it came out, and completely regretted it. This game had the potential to be amazing, but it missed that make by miles. The game play is so scattered that it seems like even the makers didn't know how to play it, which would explain the lack of understandable tutorials. The weapons are just two or three with different names. The only way to get more units is by collecting strange items from hard to reach areas. The only problems is, you can't freaking move! And if you don't have the items the character just wanders away....and won't come back. Also the way you leveled up and strengthened your characters was hard to figure out, I got the you sacrifice souls but why you do and which one would actually strengthened the unit. This game is really sort too, like 7-8 missions kind of short. And once you win I don't think you can do anything else with the game file. You just start over. The gameplay, plot, and characters makes NO sense at all! It's only plus is that the game is pretty to look at while your mad about how awful it is. Don't waste your time with this, really you would have more fun doing that homework your trying to avoid.
8/19/11
One of the best DS games out there
This is a very unique game. It's gameplay is very different, and a bit difficult to understand at first, but the tutorials really help out. In the game you take control of a "wisp" and you fly around the screen and go into the bodies of your fallen warriors to attack the enemies. The story line is incredibly good, and the visuals are beautiful, but for me the most memorable aspect was the music. The music is really good. If you like challenging strategy games then you'll love this game. The controls are very different than most other games, but it gets easy once you get the hang of it, besides, change is good. This is a game you should not pass up.
11/24/10
good start for me!
normally i hate rpgs, but this sucked me right in along with my friends. the battle system is challenging and delightful, and even though only 3 character classes can move, its not really a big deal, the battle system throws in challenges and bonuses making it hard to not go back and retry something. and the graphics are subtle yet simply delightful. and the storyline actually has depth and gives you backgrounds on every character you meet. the music could have been a little better, but its not a pressing matter. and while the character customation isnt the greatest either, it works out by giving characters background stories and amazing art work. next i'll be getting devil survivor, which is made by atlus also. overall i would recommend this game to anyone who asked about it.
9/28/09
It Amazes Me
It never fails to amaze me how often people confuse the meaning of words like when they call a game which is convoluted and chuck full of filller as 'Complex' HA! Complex my EYE. I would add that the entire game your player basically never moves from the original square where he starts! oh, you can mopve ONE or TWO TOPS squares away with a weaker character at some point in the game but it makes no sense to do so as you wouldbe using a weaker character to do that. I guess we can say all games are repetitive like space invaders, but still enjoyable. THIS game the repetition is glaringly annoying and I don't say this about very many games. I was quite disappointed with this game as a whole. There are over 170 tutorials in all and each stand as a single entity, not connecting with the other in ANY sensible pattern of progression, more like a free flowing 'free association' of thought that someone tried to put on paper without the hope of anyone ever being able to understand it without reverse engineering the whole game attack requierments. I consulted several other players who only supported my point of veiw regarding this game. So don't feel this is just one mans opinion.How one weapon is better than another was so poorly explained, even if you have years if prior knowledge of how these types of games ususally go, you will be hard pressed to understand where the author was headed with his initial ideas. Disjointed is the word of the day with this game. ADD Players welcome.Admittedly, there are dozens of weapons, most are repeated a dozen times (exactly same strength and abilitties) to appear at a quick glance as though there were a great amont of customization when in fact there is just a great deal of filler intended to appear like variations. Wait for it to hit the bargin bin or be disapointed. Good Luck.
9/18/09
Something to Remember
Knights in the Nightmare delivers a unique experience for players to remember. When I've heard of this game online, I decided to give it a shot. At first glance, it looked like another Fire Emblem. However when I played through it, it provided a fresh experience. The story kinda pulls you in, with you as a wisp (WCIII much?) who has no clue what was his past life. As you move on, you find yourself recruiting souls to do your bidding, killing off monsters to progress further in the game. After each level, they show the last known moments of the characters (whether you get them to join you or not). After a while it gets repetitive, but at least the puzzles help out. Each time you're in a battle giving orders to your knights, the monsters release some sort of objects that your wisp must dodge or else you lose time. The time you get is 60 seconds and you use that time to charge up your knights' attacks. The battle is kind of flawed though because you can only put your knights on the designated spots on the battle map, unless you have duelist or light(or lance) knight character. Also, you have to be careful where to put your knights because they might face the other way, away from the enemy, making any attacks useless. An added bonus to this game is the CD soundtrack that comes with it. I haven't listened to it yet, but I bet it's going to be a moderately good music score. After all, Atlus has sure delivered a fine experience since I haven't heard of that company before. They just need to work out some kinks. Graphics:Anime-esque in nature, which is nice, but somehow needs more detail Sound: Excellent quality, really pulls you into the battles and storylne. Gameplay: Only few errors such as character placement and stylus problems with scrolling down some of the menus Replay: After the first time you beat it, you get the chance to play the antagonist the second time around, increasing the shelf life of this game. Overall: Knights in the Nightmare gets an 8 out of 10 from me for delivering a unique experience that is only hindered by minor errors. If you love RPGs, then you should try this game out. For casuals and non-RPG fans, a rent is recommended.
7/2/09
All this buzz for a flatline game.
Frankly, I expected better. Hearing all the hype about the department of heaven series and the expectancy of this game, I got excited. However I was severely let down by this game. There was no challenge to this game. You beat a few enemies 45 times, and then you are done. Guess what? Then you can go through and do the exact same thing and just do it with a different character. OH BOY. It is the same basic thing. The tutorial was just annoying. It took me 25 minutes in the tutorial to even figure out how to really attack. The controls were basic. You control ' the wisp' with the bottom screen, highlighting the characters that you want to fight, or you can use a weapon, by doing the same, just selecting the weapon before. I will say it had a good, user friendly interface, that is once you figured out how exactly to do it. Before you did that however, it is just a pain in the butt. I will rave about this games soundtrack. Since I was all hyped up. I reserved it and got the soundtrack, which is incredible. Whoever composed the music for this game deserves 5 gold stars. Moving on, character customization is basically impossible. You level them up until you reach the max hen have to use transsoul, which is basically uselesss unless you write down every characters relationship with eachother, allowing no real growth. I give the graphics half credit, because the attacks were very nice, if not a bit reptitive, however the characters were your typical flat representations of something that could have been very very good. The length is nothing, you do 45 stages which can all be beaten in about 5 minutes, and then you are done with the game. Of course you can go back and play the same thing as a different character which really has no prevelence on anything, it is the exact same thing all over again. One last thing that I would sing praise about in this game is the storyline. It is an in depth storyline that goes through destruction, heartbreak, emotions and finding yourself. You start off the game as king Wilmgard, who ha just passed. You play a small orb, the wisp, which is able to awaken warriors to fight for him. He controls them, giving them weapons as well as orders. However you eventually come across Maria, a woman who can use all of your weapons, although you have no power to level her up or customize her in any way. From then on, it is basically her in every battle, giving you no reason to use a different character, then you are tossed back into t and have to use your own slightly weaker characters. Did I mention how characters die? Yeah they really do not. It is almost impossible to have a character die, their vitality has to go to 0 and very few monsters will go after their vitality. To figure out how they are all related to eachother you have to tap on them all and pause, giving you a short monologue during battle about one of their friends, which can help you in your transsouling efforts, but it isn't relevant to you at the time, and then you forget it, which means you are done. Would I reccomend you to buy this game? Not until you can find it in a ** dollar bin. If you want a good roleplaying game, buy something other than knights in the nightmare. Trust me. And you will be even less happy when your ** dollars has depreciated to ** dollars to be traded in.
6/30/09
The Best DS Game Ever.... no really, I'm serious!
This is without question the best DS game I have ever played! Knights in the Knightmare is unlike any game I have ever played before! It combines RPG and stratagey into one game. First off, I must say that the first thing that instantly hit me the moment I started the game was the sound quality! Finally a DS game that is not using some kind of MIDI music or just a bunch of noises mixed on a computer. The music in every aspect of the game is beautifully orchestrated and shows just how great a video game's music can really be. So far I have spent more time listening to the CD that came with it than the actual game. In addition to the music, the art displayed in the game is absolutly fabulous! Everything is top notch and well developed and I hate rushed or poorly made games. This incredible combination of sound and picture instantly draws you back into the game over and over, ever time you turn it on! One thing I really liked about beginning the game was how it started out by drawing you into the story line, and jumping right into the action and gameplay! On the menu there was a tutorial on game mechanics and how to play. Given the immense complexity of the game, this made learning how to play go by much faster and it avoided that slow learn-how-to-play section at the beggining of a game. You use the Wisp and use it to direct your units. The battlefield is based in a grid-like format and is organized into turns. You also use the wisp to supply your units with weapons to defeat your enemies. The whole combat system is very complex and high speed. Although this is a negative at first, once you master it, it keeps the game thriving with life and energy once you get farther into the game. Even in mid battle I was still stunned by the breathtaking music and incredible artwork. The storyline kept the game interesting and made me want to keep playing. At the beginning, you know almost nothing and slowly obtain information as you go. The system of character and unit customization is great and very well thought out. You can also customize your weapons for special effects and you are constantly recruiting new units to fight with. Overall, I loved this game and have never played another game quite like it. The gameplay, interface and customization was incredible and never got old. Like I said before, I cannot give enough praise to the magnificent music and the absolutly stunning artwork in the game. I have never played a DS game this good and would highly recamend it.
6/12/09
all right game
Knights in the Nightmare was just all right in my book. Its an RPG/Strategy combined with a hint ofGeometry Wars(thats right, I said it, Geometry Wars, the way you dodge attacks with the wisp feels like Geometry wars at times, thats the only reason.) Overall, I would give it a 6.75/10. But I would give it a good fun factor, lets say, 4 of 5 stars. Its all about the battle system in this game. The story is all linear, no exploration. There is a scene with some animation and some text to read, then it goes to a battle, and so on. thats how the game is played. The battle system has some flaws, so seeing that the game is all about the battles, its just an average game. its grid based, and you attack by moving a wisp onto the square that corresponds with your allies. the real problem comes with the interface. You also grab items(weapons) and move them to your allies squares for stronger attacks. But the battles can be real hectic at times and you can go to grab an item and hit one of your allies squares, triggering them to attack when you dont want them to. This can also happen when you are trying to dodge enemy attacks with the wisp(your characters dont get damaged, the wisp does.) so while trying to dodge an attack, you can trigger your allies. another problem is some of your characters(allies) dont move, only 2 classes can, and there are about 7 or 8 different classes. So at times, you can have just one enemy left that is out of reach, forcing you to sacrifice a turn at times. The battle system is real complex, so mastering it and defeating enemies does feal really good. I dont want to bash the game completely, it is still fun to play. It just had high expectations in my book, so I was a little disappointed. Overall, I do like Knights in the Nightmare, I just don't think I will find myself playing through to the end. Don't be afraid to pick the game up and give it a try. The battle system is really unique in its own way.
6/11/09
The best DS game ever!!!
I know that's a little harsh because of all of the other great games for the Nintendo DS console, but who cares?! There's so many genres this game could fit in, but brings it all together gorgeously; it never feels cluttered at all. Here's my breakdown:When you start off you will have no idea what is going on, except that you have to destroy monsters while dodging their attacks with the touch screen controls. Basically, you control a wisp and you have to strategically defeat monsters. Sounds simple, right? Except you need to do this while keeping an eye on the time so that you don't go over it or you will lose the current battle, forcing you to take another turn and face more monsters. After a win you have to timely choose what monsters you face next (reminds me of a Vegas slot-machine) and the monsters are put into a tic-tac-toe like fashion on the winning board. Sooner or later, the board gets bigger, and you have to fight more and more monsters. The boss battles are kind of unique. If you fight a regular monster, they have weaknesses that remind me of Pokemon (like Fire beats Ice, Lightning beats Normal, etc.), whereas the bosses have no weaknesses.The sound aspect is awesome considering we finally have a DS game that doesn't use MIDI music. The music is beautifully orchestrated and the (pre-order) soundtrack gives us a prime example of how great a DS game can actually be. The various sound effects in the game fit perfectly and every time you attack your knights give out a battle cry, or even a great line or two. The music and sound effects will never get old and will bring you into the game more everytime you turn on your DS.The box art is fabulous and the in-game art really puts you into that world. The pre-order artbook, entitled Tome of Lost Souls, can be used as you go through the story. It has much more than just art, giving complete stories on all (about 200) knights. You will definately be amazed at the turmoil that goes on throughout the story, which brings me to my next point. Knights in the Nightmare has the best story that I've ever experienced and possibly the best that can ever be portrayed into a video game. Throughout the game you will be given clues and flashbacks about what had happened and you'll be trying to figure out exactly what took place before you (the wisp) appeared. Absolutely phenomonal!My only peeve with the game isn't really with the game, but the packaging it came in. I pre-ordered the game and I recieved the art book and cd along with it. The packaging was nothing more than a folder lined with bubble wrap. I could tell from the dents on the game case and a single tear in the art book that it wasn't properly shipped and was thrown around a lot. This will probably be the last thing I pre-order online, without going to the store to pick it up. It's just a shame that I now have an artbook that was worn out before it even came to my house.
6/10/09
Not-just-one-genre type of game
I've never been a BIG RPG/strategy fan, but I usually enjoy games that different. I liked Avalon Code, Suikoden: Tierkris (sp?) and other more in depth RPG/strategy type games so I'd though I'd give Knights in the Nightmare (KitK) a try. I mean, if it was BAD I'd just trade it in, but I doubted that. And I'm glad I did. After playing the game a bit (and going through the included in-depth tutorials) I'm really enjoying it. The controls are real time during combat but in-between turns you have all the time you need to setup your attacks and do many other things including changing the skills (special attacks). Once in combat you use your stylus on the bottom screen to move around the Wisp (the dead benevolent king's soul) to help raise and recruit his deceased knights. You can move over your units and attack with your regular attacks or use the skill column on the right to REALLY do some damage. When you attack with your magic or skill you are treated to a beautiful 2D/3D light show and more. The 2D/3D special effects remind a great deal of Final Fantasy Tactics A2 and that is a GOOD thing! Many RPG fans are curious as to the sound and music in the game and again, KitK doesn't disappoint. During battle you get to hear the voices of the allies attacking as well as getting to listen to a wonderfully orchestral soundtrack with a gothic tone to it. It is somewhat familiar to the music you would hear (or have heard) in Chronotrigger, but it has much more depth and breadth to it. The downsides are few, but they are there. Moving the wisp can take some getting used to but there are some VERY helpful tutorials to help you better manage movement and tactics. It is also an incredibly deep game where almost everyone and EVERYTHING can be modified or changed. If you aren't into detailed micromanagement with your RPGs then you may want to look at some of the other titles. If this doesn't scare you or put you off, then I HIGHLY recommend KitK.
6/6/09