• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Knights in the Nightmare official JP thread. (Demo Impressions!)

sprsk

force push the doodoo rock
Knights in the Nightmare comes out tomorrow in Japan (I'll be picking the game up in a couple of hours) but I found that they had released a demo on the Japanese Nintendo channel.

The demo is pretty short, it's just a tutorial, but thanks to the demo I finally kind of know how the game works. It's pretty interesting, and I found the action to be a lot cooler than I was expecting.


The game works like this: You control a cursor called a wisp. You then use the wisp to select items and pick up gems that fly out of enemies as you use your wisp controlled Knights to bash them in the head. How do you do all this? Pretty simple actually. To attack, you hover the wisp over the character you want to use and a meter starts charging up, the higher the meter goes, the further out you can attack and the more damage you do. After you attack an enemy crystals come flying out of their bodies and you slide the wisp over them to gather MP for more attacks. Enemies attack by way of bullet patterns reminiscent of the ones found in cave shooters kind of a rhythmic, timed fashion and they don't ever actually attack your Knights, they attack you, the wisp. If you get hit, it subtracts time and if the time goes to 0, your turn is over.

There are also "items" in the game that are more like spells you can unleash your opponent by dragging the item on top of your character and then pointing it in the direction of the enemies you want to attack, much like regular attacks these are also chargeable.

The game also has two "phases" called "Law" and "Chaos." While I'm not sure exactly the difference, changing phases changes the patterns in which your character attacks and uses items. I have to apologize cause I have a short patience for tutorials and I glazed over most of this part.

Anyway, the game is beautiful, sound is awesome, the on screen action really gets you in to it and I can't wait to pick it up later today.
 

Hive

Banned
Thanks for the impressions, Sporsk~
It looks like English voices are used in the JPN version. Sounds funny, but I like it ^^

I have little doubt this will be picked up for localization, so I'll gladly wait. But I will be getting this once it's out here~~
 

jj984jj

He's a pretty swell guy in my books anyway.
Sounds weird, I don't think I'll be able to judge this game until I play it my-self. Glad you liked it though, gives me hope that at least their concept works! I'm looking forward to hearing more impressions when you get the game. :D
 
augh fuck stupid logging out. made me notice something else, though.

Was the tutorial called "First Step"?

I'm not sure how many people know this, but Sting got a youtube channel not too long ago, and they have about a dozen Knights in the Nightmare videos:

Playlist for "First Step" videos

Rough google translation of what each tutorial is about:
1. Attacking the enemy
2. Avoiding enemy projectiles
3. How to/what happens when you defeat an enemy
4. Gem acquisition
5. Phase change system
6. Attack targeting and phase change
7. Phase skill
8. Ready state (?)
9. Using objects
10. Recruiting characters

The last video is an audio sampler of the Knights in the Nightmare Perfect Audio Collection Plus (VGMdb entry)

There's another playlist, which features in this order:

1. A gameplay demonstration of stage 2
2. The opening eyecatch from the game
3. A less clear version of the first First Step video
4. The game's promotional trailer

All (?) of the videos can be found at the game's homepage, of course, along with plenty of nice artwork.
 

kiryogi

Banned
justchris said:
That sounds...interesting. All controlled with the dpad & buttons, right? If so, I'm sold.

Nope entirely Stylus based. Watch those videos in the above post for a good idea. Man, this game is crazy awesome original. God bless Sting for thinking out of the box.
 

justchris

Member
kiryogi said:
Nope entirely Stylus based. Watch those videos in the above post for a good idea. Man, this game is crazy awesome original. God bless Sting for thinking out of the box.

I'm at work right now so can't watch the videos. I'll check them out and see how it goes.
 

kiryogi

Banned
Some more impressions floating around out there!

-Similar to how Riviera/Yggdra's skill systems, you choose 4 skills before the battle begins. These skills vary in elements and range. The other thing separating them is the law/chaos phase. You can only use them when you're in those phases.

-The pictures seen in earlier photos where it says "Choose to defeated enemy" is actually a slot reel that occurs between each turn where you determine which enemy you'll engage next.

-You can recruit units in battle by finding an item that relates to them.
 

kiryogi

Banned
And even more!

"
- Other notes. the Trans Soul system is where you sacrifice one char to upgrade another
- Also item upgrading. and combining to raising durability
- The objectives so far seem like clearing a certain amount of enemies? or certain set
- That slot reel can be used to choose the enemy that says reach, vanquishing it will finish the battle.
- You also run the chance of picking a high level enemy.
- On leveling up your chars, its done in set increments, like 30k,40k and so forth.
- One of the high level enemies picked reversed stylus movement.
- Also the chaos/law phase can affect other things too like movement. like with a light knight, you could actually move around the map if it's Chaos phase
- Characters you recruit can die. Relates to their vitality
- Items have durability just like in Riviera.
- Story scenes have a skip button that you can press to skip pass, or hold to fast forward.
- Recruiting happens as early as the first scene/mission. More missable stuffs like other Dept. Heaven games!
 

speedpop

Has problems recognising girls
I totally forgot this was coming out today, on the same day as World Destruction no less!

Think I'll wait and see if this cops a US release before I jump.
 

kiryogi

Banned
speedpop said:
I totally forgot this was coming out today, on the same day as World Destruction no less!

Think I'll wait and see if this cops a US release before I jump.

The stuff floating around on other forums seem to favor Knights over WD.
 

kiryogi

Banned
Side note, first time I've noticed this but in the intro, it actually shows Sting's team's identifying itself.

"Product Team-A Presents"

Makes me wonder about the other teams and their workings. I imagine Team-A is Dept. Heaven.
 

GhostSeed

Member
If anyone was wondering the Yggdra Union that's included in the KITN: DHE special pack is complete with the original GBA box and everything.
 

Galactic Fork

A little fluff between the ears never did any harm...
Hmm, this game is part of the same series as yggdra union and riviera? I really need to hurry up and play those before this comes out in the US (I figure it will be, especially if it's part of the series). I really hope they put the demo on the US's Wii Everyone's Nintendo channel when it does come out.
 
I would say there is significantly less than zero chance of this getting passed over by Atlus for localization. Looking forward to being able to give it a try.
 

kiryogi

Banned
charlequin said:
I would say there is significantly less than zero chance of this getting passed over by Atlus for localization. Looking forward to being able to give it a try.

Aye, although I find it weird Sting didn't have Atlus help them with the English text this time. There's a good bits of engrish all over the place. Fact that it was dubbed in English although tho instills good hope.
 

Llyranor

Member
Okay, now that I've actually read up on how the game plays, watching the old videos again actually make sense. The gameplay really has me interested. This could be great stuff. I'll be buying this once Atlus localizes it (Riviera has been loads of fun so far, Yggdra is next!).
 

kiryogi

Banned
So, I haven't gone too far myself, game can be an exercise in frustration. Duelists irritating the hell out of me with their limited movement. I know someone else that's basically wanting to throw their DS @ the wall on around scene 17. Instant kill moves :eek:
 

kiryogi

Banned
Finally moving on. I had to harvest a Law based weapon for my hermit so I could harvest more items on the current map. Anyway! This thread and game needs more love! Am I the only JP/Import GAF-er playing this?! On the story side of things tho, it's really neat how they decide to portray it. You're constantly moving between the past and present as they try to explain the events of Avenheim. It's actually pretty sad too, as the whole deal is that you're controlling the spirits of fallen warriors. After each battle you're treated to a scene of what happened before their demise. Gonna transcribe from stuff from gamefaqs and other places:

What are Law and Chaos Phases?
-Law and Chaos phases control many aspects of the game. Most simply it determines the pattern of attack for each different class.
-In order to attack with an equipped item in a certain phase, you must have a weapon that corresponds with that phase, as marked by an L or a C. Later in the game there will be items that have both an L and a C.

How do you move your units?
-The Knight and Duelist classes can move spaces during the Chaos phase. The knight can move up to two spaces in any direction by charging a normal or item-assisted attack in Chaos mode. The Duelist can move a single space, and is limited in the directions it can move.

How do you do significant damage with normal attacks?
-A normal attack (an attack without an equipped item) can only do damage equal to a unit's level. True damage that can help destroy enemies and objects requires an item equipped.
-Normal attacks do have practical uses. By hitting enemies with a normal attack, you can collect gems that increase your MP bar. The MP bar is used to execute item skills (item-equipped attacks). If you aren't getting any gems, change phases and perform a normal attack on an enemy again.
-Some enemies have brutal one-hit kill attacks. These attacks can be interrupted by a quick normal attack.

What do key items do?
-Key items you acquire from objects on the battlefield (crates, chests, etc.) correspond to one of the silhouette "not a knight" characters found on the battlefield. To find out which one, press the key item and it should give you a silhouette and tell you which map you will meet the character on.
-Equip key items as you would weapon items when you are on the correct map. Drag the key item to the correct "not a knight..." character.

When do items expire?
-All weapon items, with the exception of 'private' items will expire when they reach 0 durability (DUR). For each turn of combat that you have an item in your item set (the set of 4 boxes on the right of the top screen) that item's durability will go down 1. A turn is one turn in battle, from the time you start to when the counter reaches zero.

Losing before the time runs out?
-All units have vitality and can be attacked. One unit which you will have to bring into battle several times is a Valkyrie unit. If she every loses all of her vitality, you lose instantly.

Why don't I have any knights to level up with experience?
-You haven't gotten any knights to join you yet (see key items above). The knights you get naturally along the way are guests. The guests will be replaced by higher level units as you go on, but you cannot share your experience points with them.

ALSO! Yggdra is in this! In the form of a tutorial teacher with her theme song remixed if you have the YU cart in the GBA slot! However, there's an actual sprite for her too shown in the NPC PV reel. No idea what her actual standing in the story here. See here:

NPC PV Reel:
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm4733208

Tutorial video with Yggdra:
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm4770153

Odd thing. She's still 17?! That's her age in YU as well.

Also some impressions from GFaqs:
I really don't want to like this game because it seems like they are trying too hard to be different. The thing is, as with Yggdra Union, the game manages to be different without losing what makes strategy games great.

The familiar 'break all the rules of games you've seen' interface is back, with stats and icons everywhere. This time they turned it up a notch and you have to interact on that cluttered playing field in real time. What by all rights would be a sight for sore eyes works and plays very well.

The game system works really well, with a simplified version of the map appearing on the lower screen so you can set up strategies more effectively. While I don't like real-time games as much as pure turn-based strategy, it works well here, rewarding people who don't panic (a lot like Trauma Center, strangely).

At first I thought the idea of getting attacked by SHMUP (side-scrolling shooter)-style bullets was lame, but the fact that it just reduces your time and doesn't physically hurt you makes it a lot better. Granted, time here is just as precious as HP in any other game, but it's a little more forgiving.

Oh, and the ability to play battles again outside of the main story (leveling): all I could have asked for.
So it's generally awesome all around. If you are a fan of this group's art style and open to hybrid style of gaming, it's an excellent game.

Final notes:

-Atlus USA seen in credits :D
-Over 200 recruitable characters!
-Some only available 2nd playthru

PS: Sp0rks, you fail @ making official thread! I really had something nice for the OP >_< This is why this thread is dying!
 

kiryogi

Banned
Volcynika said:
Tho to be realistic, it was probably to help with the engrish. Which I don't get on why it's worse than YU's. Of course Atlus will localize this. Can't wait.

I'm finally tearing thru the main site. There's really so much! The clean versions of the bgms as well. Has to be the best Dept. Heaven score yet. Usually I thought Riviera/Yggdra lost something in translation going from GBA sound -> arrange. But with it starting from actual decent assets, there's nothing lost and the end result is absolutely amazing. Can't wait to get my hands on the soundtrack. The battle prep theme before each turn begins is so epic.
 

Volcynika

Member
kiryogi said:
Tho to be realistic, it was probably to help with the engrish. Which I don't get on why it's worse than YU's. Of course Atlus will localize this. Can't wait.

Yeah, Atlus USA does love to bring over a large portion of Sting developed stuff, I would be more surprised if it DIDN'T come over here.
 

kiryogi

Banned
Yaweee said:
What a fantastic way to get US confirmation. Has that ever happened before?

I'm guessing a February release in the US.

Like I said, Atlus has always been credited in the past like this. Sting didn't get all the English text in the game by themselves.
 

kiryogi

Banned
kittencredits.jpg
 

kiryogi

Banned
My final contribution and post to this thread. Unless anything more major shows up, I guess there will be no more Knights love until domestic.

Remirrors of some of the wallpapers:

http://www.taleschannel.org/Guide/knights_a1280x1024.jpg
http://www.taleschannel.org/Guide/knights_v1280x1024.jpg

And finally, some contribution samplers from the soundtrack itself... This has to be one of Hayashi's best works yet, and gives absolute homage to the entire Dept. Heaven series

http://www.taleschannel.org/Guide/151_Ep_1-2-4 Fantasia.mp3

And... one more bonus

http://www.taleschannel.org/Guide/138_Her_Highness'_Tactical_Instruction.mp3

The End.
 
Top Bottom