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Black Knight Sword |OT| Praise the Suda!
- Thread starter Vert boil
- Start date
SlasherJPC
Banned
Just got my review copy. I'll stream this on twitch later tonight for viewing pleasures... or something like that. I hear this game is hard... my body is ready!!!
CrunchinJelly
formerly cjelly
This game is weird.
#myreview
#myreview
Vert boil
Member
Nothing game breaking but some advice if you think Stage 5 glitched on you. This happened the first time after I got further into Stage 5 but not the second time.
(I'm playing the 360 version, PS3 could be different)
For those that have reached Stage 5.
The Glitched part.
You have to complete the game to see the Credits. I'll try and write them down if no one else has done it by then.
(I'm playing the 360 version, PS3 could be different)
For those that have reached Stage 5.
If you game over it does save the progress on the four minor bosses but when you start again the door don't show as cleared until you complete another boss.
The Glitched part.
If you've completed all four minor bosses and game over on the Princess boss fight, all of the smaller doors might be greyed out but the main door will still be locked. Go to the menu and select Save. Then quit to the menu and continue the game and then you will have access to the Princess again.
You have to complete the game to see the Credits. I'll try and write them down if no one else has done it by then.
Just wanted to chime in and say don't let the cakewalk demo fool you. This game starts getting pretty damn hard towards the end of stage 2. If this is not a throwback to the days when these sort of games kicked your ass, then I don't know what is. It is absolutely the real deal in that regard. I am not the only one saying it either. Read around.
SlasherJPC
Banned
God, this game gets just plain weird. But then again, that is Japan for you. Was not expecting shmup sections, especially ones this hilarious. Still a really neat little game for 10.00, though. On the last level right now. If I don't finish tonight, I'll knock it out tomorrow.
So I just beat the game on new game+ and got the true ending and credits. I ended up really liking it overall, the credits were really cool and weird. I laughed when I saw the Tri-Ace logo in the credits, additional art and programming I think.
I'm going to do a Hard mode run next, it was already fairly challenging on normal so we'll see how it goes! Pretty cool little game!
I'm going to do a Hard mode run next, it was already fairly challenging on normal so we'll see how it goes! Pretty cool little game!
gunstarhero
Member
First play through got me to the second boss - where I became equally frightened and equally dead. This game has some freaky character designs!
Overall, really glad I bought it - love me some platforming, and the game has a great feel to it. People who are comparing it to GnG are dead on - except it's GnG on a bad acid trip.
Overall, really glad I bought it - love me some platforming, and the game has a great feel to it. People who are comparing it to GnG are dead on - except it's GnG on a bad acid trip.
Shin Johnpv
Member
Forgot to buy the other day, need to remember when I get home from work today. Looks really interesting.
Game is pretty nuts but fun... Here is the first 10 minutes of the game showing off the intro and gameplay basics.
SlasherJPC
Banned
Game is pretty great imo. Though can someone clarify for me. When you die, it says you loose everything if you restart? I'm confused, are these just any temporary boosts plus your hearts aka currency? Anything major? Someone tweeted about this and made it sound worse then it is but want some clarification.
Just reload your save and lose nothing.
SlasherJPC
Banned
Yeah but my point is, what exactly do you loose? Just your currency and temporary upgrades? If so that's not a huge deal to me. Also Say I have one life, I save, I die, reload save, I still only have one life? or all 3?
Nothing. One life.
After you burn through your lives, you have to restart the stage with none of the upgrades you bought or hearts.
SlasherJPC
Banned
I guess my confusion is, none of the upgrades are permanent anyways right? Like the armor gets used up I know.
The only permanent upgrades are:
- Making Hellebore/magic more powerful
- Life bar upgrades
SlasherJPC
Banned
Ahhh you lose those... well that kinda sorta sucks but at the same time. Games only 5 chapters. Doesn't seem too bad if you can keep restarting from that same chapter you fail and not the whole game over. People on twitter made it seem to be a bigger deal.
It has some frustrating parts, but the chapters are not that long anyway. Keeping your life upgrades and Hellebore upgrades are the only ones that really make sense in this sort of structure. Having to re-upgrade those would suck. Everything else, like 1 extra life, refilling health, the extra armor and extra use of magic are understandably taken away if you lose all of your lives.
SlasherJPC
Banned
Yeah seems fair enough. I'm really liking it so far. Need to play some more. I grew up on ghouls and ghost, festers quest, and other hard ass games. I feel right at home.
Yeah seems fair enough. I'm really liking it so far. Need to play some more. I grew up on ghouls and ghost, festers quest, and other hard ass games. I feel right at home.
What is weird to me is the shmup sections. Kind of threw me off, but it's pretty funny. Anyway, I got right to the end last night and finally lost all my lives in a real cheap shot. Pissed me off pretty good, so I decided to wait and try to knock it out today, lol.
SlasherJPC
Banned
See, I haven't seen those yet! Messed around up to stage 2. Game seems fairly difficult. Love the style and it def feels like Suda 51/grasshopper game, for sure. Sad to see not many paying attention. I'll be posting a video in here of it in a day or 2.
Maybe that will help get a few on board. For $10.00, it's really a neat little game with some truly crazy Japanese flavor. Anxious to check out arcade and the challenge modes later on as well. It's quite nice for the price.
I'm wondering if this takes place in the same universe as Shadows of the Damned.
Anyway, does the game play better on the 360 or PS3?
SlasherJPC
Banned
Used this game for my first shot at the new segment Dirty Thirty: Black Knight Sword One game, 30 minutes. Unedited. Give you a good idea of the gameplay. Yes I talk in it, so if your not a fan of that style, you've been warned. Re-uploaded and working now.
SlasherJPC
Banned
Ok finally got the video re-uploaded. Link is working in the above post. As for me. I got pretty far into level 3. Damn does it get tough and that second boss fight HOLY CRAP!
Beat hard mode earlier today, really made me appreciate the game even more. The enemies get new patterns and attacks and their placement is different. It's not just a damage increase which I really like!
Challenge mode has been really cool so far, kinda stuck on mission 13 because of some enemy I can't seem to kill, the missions have been extremely fun so far. Tried a bit of arcade mode and it really feels like classic GnG with a nice emphasis on score and efficiency.
This game is a HUGE surprise, I downloaded the demo out of sheer boredom but expected it to be shitty like alot of Grasshopper stuff. I was surprised by the fairly tight controls and immediate fun factor and the weird setting intrigued me enough to straight up buy it. I'm really glad that I did, it's been really surprisingly good!
Highly recommended to people who like arcade style platforming and a decent challenge.
Challenge mode has been really cool so far, kinda stuck on mission 13 because of some enemy I can't seem to kill, the missions have been extremely fun so far. Tried a bit of arcade mode and it really feels like classic GnG with a nice emphasis on score and efficiency.
This game is a HUGE surprise, I downloaded the demo out of sheer boredom but expected it to be shitty like alot of Grasshopper stuff. I was surprised by the fairly tight controls and immediate fun factor and the weird setting intrigued me enough to straight up buy it. I'm really glad that I did, it's been really surprisingly good!
Highly recommended to people who like arcade style platforming and a decent challenge.
SlasherJPC
Banned
It seems to be getting some negative reviews last I saw. Shame really. It's fun, hard, charming, twisted and highly enjoyable.
If played on a surface level it's just a weird and kinda short platformer. Not surprising it would get panned in reviews.
Don't get me wrong it's not perfect but it's really fun and has some real meat on it's bones if you really get into it. Hope people give it a chance!
My review for it is going to be going up soon, and I will be joining the ranks of those that panned the game. I really wanted to like it, but manit just does so many things wrong in my mind. I appreciate difficult games, in terms of everything for the Dark Souls definition of difficulty, to the Ghosts'n Goblins definition. This game, thoughit gets difficulty wrong, at least to me. It absolutely does remind me of 16-bit action platformersbut the ones that I'm glad are no longer being made. *laughs*
I think I'd be able to appreciate it a bit more if I also wasn't so annoyed by the game's style. For me, it comes off as trying way, way to hard in trying to be weird, to a point that it's not weird, it's just stupid. The best part of the game is the whole "it's a play being performed on stage" aspect, but that often seems to get trampled by that Suda 51 style of "OMG look how hip and strange I am" design. (It reminds me a lot of Tim Burton stuff in that regard.)
Shame, because I was so excited for it after seeing it back at PAX.
I think I'd be able to appreciate it a bit more if I also wasn't so annoyed by the game's style. For me, it comes off as trying way, way to hard in trying to be weird, to a point that it's not weird, it's just stupid. The best part of the game is the whole "it's a play being performed on stage" aspect, but that often seems to get trampled by that Suda 51 style of "OMG look how hip and strange I am" design. (It reminds me a lot of Tim Burton stuff in that regard.)
Shame, because I was so excited for it after seeing it back at PAX.
I'd be interested to hear about what you find cheap in the game. I also felt it was a bit cheap on my first playthrough but in reality pretty much everything can be avoided. The dodge has a good amount of invincibility frames and it's essential on higher difficulties. Positioning and knowing when to attack and with which move also are very important. You can also use the right stick to move the camera to see enemies or platforms in advance.
I understand what you mean about the game being weird for the sake of being weird but after getting the true ending which you get by beating the game on new game+, I actually thought it was pretty cool. It wraps around on itself in a pretty clever way story wise, the true ending and credits were really well handled imo.
I started digging into Arcade mode and came away extremely impressed, this is some hardcore stuff! The levels use the same basic layouts but everything is turned up to 11, it's about 5 times harder than hard mode. You also have to complete the entire thing on one credit making your choices on how to spend your hearts much more meaningful.
It's definitely a love letter to fans old school platforming action and I personally think they did a really good job with it. My only real complaints are some very slight problems related to collision detection and clipping but nothing that caused me to die or anything. It's mostly really tight and feels good. The design actually reminds me somewhat of Hard Corps: Uprising, another game that I absolutely loved. It had Rising mode to ease you into it and the real challenge was in the Arcade mode where the game just kicked your ass until you mastered it and could clear it without dying.
I don't think I like it quite as much as that game but it's definitely one of the better downloadable titles in a while as far as my tastes go.
SlasherJPC
Banned
I definetly would like to know this as well. I felt that yes coming to a new level, I had to learn it and the perils that came with it. Yes sometimes, I'd have to start the whole level over due to death, but getting as far as I did in the levels taught me. For example the second boss was really tearing me a new ass. After trying him a few times, picked up the pattern and had a much easier time of beating him. I felt rewarded for figuring it out and progressing. I love that feeling.
I think there's a few elements that add to this overall sense of the game being "cheap". First, I think it does an absolutely terrible job of really giving the player the information they need to understand how to deal with situations the first time they encounter them. I feel a lot of the game boils down to trial-and-error, and I'm never a fan of that. That's one reason I love Dark Souls so much—as much as it might be hard, if a player is cautious and smart, they can understand how to get past any obstacle.
I played through the game once, did not enjoy it one bit, played it again, enjoyed it better. I came away feeling like my first time through had to totally suck so that I could learn the game, and that the second time through was my "real" play-through. I hate that style of thinking.
I think the enemies themselves feel cheap because the have peculiar movement patterns, and this combined with the terrible (I feel) attack range/style of the black knight makes it so easy for them to hit you while you're trying—and failing—to hit them first. Most of the time, I felt like I could rely on Hellebore as an attack far more than I could my sword, and I don't think that's a good statement to make.
Hit boxes on enemies can also be hugely frustrating, as can the priority (at least that I perceived) they have when it comes to trading hits. I think the enemy in the wheelchair holding the spikes shield was a great example of this—it's placed in a few positions throughout the game where I just fell into frustration over feeling that I should have gotten a legitimate hit in on them, but instead I was the one losing life.
What really rubbed me the wrong way was that I feel like a lot of the difficulty was more on the "cheap" side of things, and that once you suffered through it and knew what to expect, it ends up being too easy. Some of the enemies are really fun to fight, but then that is followed by too many that are just of not being actually challenging to beat, but just remembering exactly what to do when.
I've played enough games that I loved that others didn't to know that at the end of the day, a lot of it is a matter of taste. And, I think if my complains about the presentation and style of Black Knight Sword weren't also so strong, I could maybe have forgiven some of the issues I took with gameplay. I just did not walk away with a positive opinion on the game, and while I know some people have compared to the various Ghosts'n Goblins games, I don't think it comes even close to being as good as any of them were. I also don't think this game offer the reward that I get from games like Dark Souls. When I couldn't get past something, I was pissed off and frustrated—when I finally got past it, I was glad to have it over and never wanted to do it again.
Edit: Oh, and also, having the back roll as down+jump makes the game a frustrating mess for me. That was a really, really terrible decision that does huge detriment to the game. I constantly felt like I was fighting against the game's controls. (Like many a 16-bit action platformer, I guess. *heh*)
Fair enough!
The wheelchair enemies can be easily killed by either dodging through them and stabbing them in the back or by doing a jump downstrike on their heads a couple of times.
I like the way the rolling feels personally, never had an issue with it, I'm dodge rolling all over the place haha! I play with the dpad on PS3 if that makes any difference, 360 dpad would drive me nuts on this game.
SlasherJPC
Banned
Great post to showcase your issues with the game though I must admit using Dark Souls as an example, I felt a bit odd since after having completed Dark Souls I felt 1. It only got easier now knowing what you were going to face, and 2. That series feels very trial and error the first time through at least in my eyes. Yes I played cautiously but still I learned from my mistakes many, many times in DS with well... trial and error. Other then that I can see your furstrations for DKS but the fact that you could always restart a level, getting further the next time, some of these issues don't bother me as much. Plus I do really love the style and vibe.
I, huh, wouldn't play it only for the story let's just say!
There's alot of weird symbolism and the true ending gives you stuff to think about which I thought was cool but it's VERY abstract and hard to decipher. I did end up liking where it went and the vibe it gave off but it's style over substance imo unless I'm really missing some deep meaning which I doubt.
Yeah, the method I would usually use is the jumping downstrike, but too many times I felt like the hitbox on my sword was so small that hitting them without getting hit myself could be really, really tough. This mostly came into play on Stage 5, where there's a few that are positioned in such a way that they can be difficult to deal with.
I'm using the PS3 analog stick, so I definitely think that's a small part of the problem. The issue really is that the black knight can also crouch-walk. In a lot of games, you only get a forward/backward slide if you're pushing down, and not having an in-between movement at the diagonal keeps you from accidentally doing that move. Here, I found it very easy to unknowingly start to angle the stick down a bit when standing on a platform or whatever, so when I thought I'd be getting a jump, I ended up with the back dodge—sending me right off the platform to doom. *heh*
I ended up liking how Dust did it: via the right analog stick. At the very least, I would have preferred an option to map the movement directly to a different button instead. (Say, Circle to instantly do the dodge.)
brandonh83
Banned
I love the demo. Really surprised by it. If I liked the demo, is buying the full game a good idea? Does it get worse, or is there not enough content to justify the purchase or anything like that?
It obviously gets harder but if you liked the demo I think you'll dig the full game.