Eh, couldn't have played it too wrong if I got to the end boss lol. Like I said, game was decent but for the love of god there was no thought put into the combat of this game.. like at all.Yeah... you were playing it wrong.
You are supposed to do the opposite of "hit the enemy as fast as you can". In fact, the game punishes you for rushing into encounters.
just finished my hard play through today - really enjoyed it, solid throwback brawler
Funny; the high point of the game is how thoughtful and precise the design is for enemy encounters and the combat system.Originally Posted by StealthxHawk
Eh, couldn't have played it too wrong if I got to the end boss lol. Like I said, game was decent but for the love of god there was no thought put into the combat of this game.. like at all.
It's simple, a bit too simple. But mastering the encounters is being pretty rewarding, for me at least. Just like how a lot of people are complaining that it's not like Katamari where you control your size at all times by sucking stuff up - Knack's size is used to shape the combat. Health, reach, attack power, all tuned to the particular combination of enemies at hand to make a unique scenario.
I think one could grind to the end of the game being frustrated if it didn't click for them. But I cannot say the game is thoughtless. It's the opposite.
So is there a way to go back to earlier levels without voiding your progress? I'm one part away from both the Time Dilator and the Double Sunstone Battery, but unfortunately the game decided around Chapter 7 or 8 that I was only getting Detector parts and Crystals from now on.
Originally Posted by StealthxHawk
Eh, couldn't have played it too wrong if I got to the end boss lol. Like I said, game was decent but for the love of god there was no thought put into the combat of this game.. like at all.
Again, you said this:
you.... replay the same area over... and over.. and over... and over.... and................ over......
I don't mean to ride you too hard, but it's really not quite right to say there was no thought put into the combat if you were replaying checkpoints over and over and over again, by your own admission, instead of learning how to approach the combat situations properly. The game is designed to punish you by rushing into it with no thought, just as you experienced, including what you called "lag" after dodging. It's a deliberate design decision to let you know that you are not invincible and cannot rush into encounters and expect to dodge out of the way multiple times without punishment.
Finally verified!
I'm so excited to try this game out with my fiance. I thought it looked better every time they showed it off leading up to release. Reviews be darned, I'm stoked for Knack.
How would those of you that Platinum'd the game rate the difficulty of doing so?
I'm so excited to try this game out with my fiance. I thought it looked better every time they showed it off leading up to release. Reviews be darned, I'm stoked for Knack.
How would those of you that Platinum'd the game rate the difficulty of doing so?
I've played COD, BF4, and KZ:SF campaigns.... I'm having more fun playing Knack than all of them.
I'm finding it interesting how some folks are just completely hating this game (on GAF and other places). I've not seen a more polarized game in a good while. Seems very 50/50 at this point.
MehhhhOriginally Posted by SlasherJPC
I'm finding it interesting how some folks are just completely hating this game (on GAF and other places). I've not seen a more polarized game in a good while. Seems very 50/50 at this point.
I don't hate it. I just wish I hadn't dropped 40 bux on it. It should have been half the length and 20 bucks. The combat is cool, but the game wears on you. I was waaay higher on it around mission 3,4, but the more I play the less I like it.
I think its the kind of game you enjoy best in short spurts.
If I finish the game on normal can I play new game + on normal? or do I have to play it on hard?
So if I'm going to pick a chapter to farm crystals can I do it without losing progress as long as I stay on the difficulty I finished the game? I've finished the game twice now but I still have 3 incomplete sets (including Diamond) and I really don't want to play it a third time on Hard.
Gave it a bit of a play earlier. Definitely one of the harshest rated games of all time. I think the combat works really well, it punishes you for not being able to overcome both the single enemy as well as the entire encounter. I like it.
I 100%ed the game tonight.
Got my 1st PS4 Platinum
ooh yeah
Got my 1st PS4 Platinum
ooh yeah
unlocked characters are available for any New Game type of any difficulty.Originally Posted by Derrick01
So if I'm going to pick a chapter to farm crystals can I do it without losing progress as long as I stay on the difficulty I finished the game? I've finished the game twice now but I still have 3 incomplete sets (including Diamond) and I really don't want to play it a third time on Hard.
Be sure to farm for crystals in one save file. Then when your unlocked character is saved, you can then create a New Game and select the Unlocked character.
The thing that does not carry over is inventory and Gadgets.
Nice one, I made the mistake of playing through on Normal first time around, finished it last night. Will start a Hard play through soon and then Very Hard.Originally Posted by gutter_trash
I 100%ed the game tonight.
Got my 1st PS4 Platinum
ooh yeah
Quite enjoyed the game, didn't feel too long either. Some areas were frustrating and in all honesty the combat if you can call it that was repetative. But I liked the story and characters and look forward to a sequel if they decide on one!
Finally finished! Long-winded review incoming:
Gameplay
Liked it a lot. The combat is simple, but always pretty satisfying. My only real complaint is that some of the moves (dodge and jump-attack in particular) have a bit of a delay after executing them that I could really live without. A little more complexity in future would spice things up I think, even if it's only a new move or two.
The platforming could use a little work; it'll often look as if one jump should be enough to reach a ledge, but that frequently isn't the case. If they can polish things up, I'd probably be up for a little more platforming in general with a bit more variety to help break things up.
Actually, more variety in general would be great. Stealth Knack was a lot of fun to use, and the moments where Knack picked up new materials were some of the most exciting, even if they often didn't amount to much. So for next time, more alternate Knacks, and more things do do when we get them.
Story
So for the most part, I thought this was pretty decent. It's basic stuff, but no worse than most other game stories these days.
There is one area where I thought they totally goofed it though, and that was with Charlotte's character. She barely does or says anything during the time we're with her, and in her time off-screen she's building weapons for the Gobins (a fact which is conveniently forgotten or ignored by pretty much everyone for the rest of the game). I can't really think of a good reason for her to be there at all, besides explaining away the Goblin weapons (which I kinda always assumed were going to be Viktor's doing).
There's some really fertile ground laid here for a sequel, however. I thought the way various characters allude to Knack being a tool of the humans, and his own admission that he "gets big, breaks things, can't help it" were both really interesting thoughts. I'd like to see some exploration of who he really is, besides the Doc's "creation" in any future titles.
Visuals
Overall, pretty happy. Technically I think it could benefit from being locked to either 30 or 60 fps, but I didn't have serious issues with the unlocked framerate other than a few dips. IQ was pretty good, though I feel like they might've been using FXAA or similar, which resulted in a little fuzziness here and there. Overall though, I think they did well. Levels are often huge and colourful with a great sense of scale, and the mix of environments was pretty good.
Artistically, it's a bit of a mixed bag. The best analogy I can think of is that it looks as if they let the builders do their stuff, but then forgot to call in the set decorators. Levels feel fully constructed, but they rarely feel lived in. In the factory levels, where are the monitors playing propaganda videos and the posters with safety information? In the city levels, where are the advertising billboards and the market stalls? Games like Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus might be a generation behind Knack, but the environments pack a ton more detail and character. I'd love to see this addressed if we get a Knack 2.
Sound
I tend not to notice music in games a great deal, but I enjoyed what I heard here. The voicework was all up to scratch too, with Knack's (divisive) voice being a particular favourite.
Length
Yeah... it's too long. Well, it's too long given the amount of content, anyway. By the time I reached about Chapter 9 I was starting to get fatigued with it, even when only playing a bit each day. There's really too little content stretched across too many hours here, with lots of areas including very clearly cut-and-pasted corridors and rooms so as to include more enemy encounters.
If it was up to me, I think I'd probably snip two such encounters from every sub-chapter in the game. Variety needs to arrive more quickly than it does now, and reducing the length of every sub-chapter by about 20% would result in a leaner, less tiring game IMO.
Final Thoughts
I like Knack a lot. I like the character, I like the brawler gameplay and I like the potential of a character who can be varied in both size and composition. I feel like this game is the ultimate example of the "Good game, amazing sequel" scenario - I look at Knack, and I see huge potential for a more varied, better paced follow-up. I really hope that wish comes true, but in the meantime, Knack is great fun, and easily my favourite title in the PS4 launch lineup.
7.5/10
Gameplay
Liked it a lot. The combat is simple, but always pretty satisfying. My only real complaint is that some of the moves (dodge and jump-attack in particular) have a bit of a delay after executing them that I could really live without. A little more complexity in future would spice things up I think, even if it's only a new move or two.
The platforming could use a little work; it'll often look as if one jump should be enough to reach a ledge, but that frequently isn't the case. If they can polish things up, I'd probably be up for a little more platforming in general with a bit more variety to help break things up.
Actually, more variety in general would be great. Stealth Knack was a lot of fun to use, and the moments where Knack picked up new materials were some of the most exciting, even if they often didn't amount to much. So for next time, more alternate Knacks, and more things do do when we get them.
Story
So for the most part, I thought this was pretty decent. It's basic stuff, but no worse than most other game stories these days.
There is one area where I thought they totally goofed it though, and that was with Charlotte's character. She barely does or says anything during the time we're with her, and in her time off-screen she's building weapons for the Gobins (a fact which is conveniently forgotten or ignored by pretty much everyone for the rest of the game). I can't really think of a good reason for her to be there at all, besides explaining away the Goblin weapons (which I kinda always assumed were going to be Viktor's doing).
There's some really fertile ground laid here for a sequel, however. I thought the way various characters allude to Knack being a tool of the humans, and his own admission that he "gets big, breaks things, can't help it" were both really interesting thoughts. I'd like to see some exploration of who he really is, besides the Doc's "creation" in any future titles.
Visuals
Overall, pretty happy. Technically I think it could benefit from being locked to either 30 or 60 fps, but I didn't have serious issues with the unlocked framerate other than a few dips. IQ was pretty good, though I feel like they might've been using FXAA or similar, which resulted in a little fuzziness here and there. Overall though, I think they did well. Levels are often huge and colourful with a great sense of scale, and the mix of environments was pretty good.
Artistically, it's a bit of a mixed bag. The best analogy I can think of is that it looks as if they let the builders do their stuff, but then forgot to call in the set decorators. Levels feel fully constructed, but they rarely feel lived in. In the factory levels, where are the monitors playing propaganda videos and the posters with safety information? In the city levels, where are the advertising billboards and the market stalls? Games like Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus might be a generation behind Knack, but the environments pack a ton more detail and character. I'd love to see this addressed if we get a Knack 2.
Sound
I tend not to notice music in games a great deal, but I enjoyed what I heard here. The voicework was all up to scratch too, with Knack's (divisive) voice being a particular favourite.
Length
Yeah... it's too long. Well, it's too long given the amount of content, anyway. By the time I reached about Chapter 9 I was starting to get fatigued with it, even when only playing a bit each day. There's really too little content stretched across too many hours here, with lots of areas including very clearly cut-and-pasted corridors and rooms so as to include more enemy encounters.
If it was up to me, I think I'd probably snip two such encounters from every sub-chapter in the game. Variety needs to arrive more quickly than it does now, and reducing the length of every sub-chapter by about 20% would result in a leaner, less tiring game IMO.
Final Thoughts
I like Knack a lot. I like the character, I like the brawler gameplay and I like the potential of a character who can be varied in both size and composition. I feel like this game is the ultimate example of the "Good game, amazing sequel" scenario - I look at Knack, and I see huge potential for a more varied, better paced follow-up. I really hope that wish comes true, but in the meantime, Knack is great fun, and easily my favourite title in the PS4 launch lineup.
7.5/10
I'm only on 6-1 and it's taking me ages to get through this. I went for Hard on my first playthrough, and it's a great challenge. The checkpointing, level design and difficulty remind me an awful lot of Crash Bandicoot, while the gameplay (for some reason) makes me think of Mega Man. Probably because it's all just attack pattern management, I dunno.
The challenge feels well weighted on Hard. There's times I can just get in the zone and go 10 minutes without even getting hit, while others, I get annihilated over and over again on the same enemies I was breezing by before, just due to my concentration slipping. Any time you fuck up, it's basically your fault.
And the Katamari-esque progression of growth is neat. Being able to one-shot guys that previously took 2 or 3 really gives you a sense of empowerment. It's a pity they kneecap that so often (using relics to open doors/power up elevators always feels disappointing), but I suppose how rare being huge is made adds to the joy of finding a big stash of relics. When Knack first walked in to that room in the fortress, it put a wide grin on my face, which stayed there the entire time I ran about fucking shit up.
I understand that Knack is an acquired taste. I had a theory that the reason Knack was so poorly received was because it'd be the Worst. Fucking. Game. to play to a deadline. Maybe it outstays its welcome by Chapter 13, I don't know, but I do know I'm having a blast playing it, and right now the low-low scores just don't seem right.
The challenge feels well weighted on Hard. There's times I can just get in the zone and go 10 minutes without even getting hit, while others, I get annihilated over and over again on the same enemies I was breezing by before, just due to my concentration slipping. Any time you fuck up, it's basically your fault.
And the Katamari-esque progression of growth is neat. Being able to one-shot guys that previously took 2 or 3 really gives you a sense of empowerment. It's a pity they kneecap that so often (using relics to open doors/power up elevators always feels disappointing), but I suppose how rare being huge is made adds to the joy of finding a big stash of relics. When Knack first walked in to that room in the fortress, it put a wide grin on my face, which stayed there the entire time I ran about fucking shit up.
I understand that Knack is an acquired taste. I had a theory that the reason Knack was so poorly received was because it'd be the Worst. Fucking. Game. to play to a deadline. Maybe it outstays its welcome by Chapter 13, I don't know, but I do know I'm having a blast playing it, and right now the low-low scores just don't seem right.
If you don't utilize thought when you're playing, you can't really talk about the thought put into the design of the game.Originally Posted by StealthxHawk
Eh, couldn't have played it too wrong if I got to the end boss lol. Like I said, game was decent but for the love of god there was no thought put into the combat of this game.. like at all.
Be like playing Demons/Dark Souls the same way. Sure you could probably eventually progress to a certain point, but it's going to make the game seem crap if you constantly mash away at it instead of actually thinking during encounters.
Knack is thoughtful in design, because without thinking you're not going to get through the game very easily on normal or higher.
Just because the combat is simplistic, doesn't mean it's not thoughtful.
Played some more, still really like it. Ice Knack looks boss. Giant Knack is like an angry bear, awesome.
What happened with the cutscenes, though. They feel choppy and don't even look that good, were they encoded at 24 fps or what? Terrible.
PS: if there's a Knack 2 they have to steal Naughty Dog's snow technique for it. UC2 and TLoU snow <3
What happened with the cutscenes, though. They feel choppy and don't even look that good, were they encoded at 24 fps or what? Terrible.
PS: if there's a Knack 2 they have to steal Naughty Dog's snow technique for it. UC2 and TLoU snow <3
I got Knack from Gamefly. It isn't anywhere near as bad as the reviews made it out to be. Had I kept my order for it in the Amazon B2G1 deal I wouldn't have regretted it. The game is more of a strategy platformer than anything. There is a lot of strategy involved in terms of how to get through it and how to kill the enemies without dying. You die very quickly in this game, so that is part of the main part of the game.
The enemies seem to have set attacks so it looks to me like as long as I learn what's going on I should be fine. Then again, I'm only up to 3-1 so maybe things change a lot from there, I'm not sure.
I will say this though. I despise the enemies with projectiles. They can screw right off out of here.
I bet a LOT of parents are going to be in for a shock when they give this game to their little small kids and they end up getting pissed off at it because of the difficulty. It reminds me almost of an old school NES game or something with the entire trial and error thing.
The enemies seem to have set attacks so it looks to me like as long as I learn what's going on I should be fine. Then again, I'm only up to 3-1 so maybe things change a lot from there, I'm not sure.
I will say this though. I despise the enemies with projectiles. They can screw right off out of here.
I bet a LOT of parents are going to be in for a shock when they give this game to their little small kids and they end up getting pissed off at it because of the difficulty. It reminds me almost of an old school NES game or something with the entire trial and error thing.
I hope there is a Knack 2.
If they could clean up the frame rate, add more Boss Battles, and balance the platforming/fighting a bit better... It would be improved a lot.
If they could clean up the frame rate, add more Boss Battles, and balance the platforming/fighting a bit better... It would be improved a lot.
Really? What's your PSN ID? Because it's not the one listed in your public profile.I'm half way through this game and I'm hating it. How shit like this gets released and hyped is beyond me. I want to finish it because I like finishing what I've started, but I feel like I've stepped into 1995 when I boot this disc. Sure, it's really pretty. It's just a waste of the $40 I paid for it.
So I got all the gadgets on my second playthrough on normal now, should I just go to hard? Or should I keep going (I'm at chapter 7) to farm out crystals as much as possible without gadget interference? I only have two completed. Vampire, or whichever is the 1 star red crystal Knack and Brittle Knack.
Last edited by Elvick; Today at 01:34 PM.
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