• 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.

Knack |OT| Playin' Knack in my Tub!

What is up with that "blocked scene" glitch where the stream stops when you get a relic or trophy thing? Have seen it in multiple places.
 

Exis

Member
I just beat it on normal, it got a bit repetitive near the end and it would have been an whole lot more interesting if the collectables meant something- I'm not going to play this again anytime soon.

Still it was way more of a platformer than I expected and I was pretty happy about paying it.
 

Sorian

Banned
What is up with that "blocked scene" glitch where the stream stops when you get a relic or trophy thing? Have seen it in multiple places.

The devs block streaming during that time. Devs are allowed to shut off PS4 direct dtreaming whenever they'd like in a game.
 

Qwell

Member
Played a little bit with the wife today, I was just showing it to her before we left to go furniture shopping and we ended up playing for over an hour. I had previously played myself through about 2.5 chapters. Like others have said, it's not for everyone but I'm having fun with it. It tickles that old ps1 adventure game. And I'm sure kids would like it.

I do second the "safe" or maybe sterile sentiment, it could use a bit more pizazz but for what it is I think it's good, would prob get a sequel if one came out. It does make me look forward to a ratchet and clank game if insomniac were up for it.
 

Yuterald

Member
Wait, can you explain more? I don't get it. Why would they do that?

Item spoilers?

I think it's to hide real friend names. I have a few people I now in real life who've been playing this so their name would pop up if the stream allowed it. Probably just a privacy thing.

Just finished my live stream on Hard. Got to 5-1. I can't believe there were enemies with Ape Escape-like nets! Such a fucking tease! Love Knack.
 
It tickles that old ps1 adventure game. And I'm sure kids would like it.

This is great to hear. I have this game as part of my preorder at Game along with Killzone. It's good to know that it offers that old school vibe and is enjoyable, if simple.

I'll be playing this co-op with a friend on EU launch night so it's nice to see people on Gaf have been having a good time with the game.
 
I think it's to hide real friend names. I have a few people I now in real life who've been playing this so their name would pop up if the stream allowed it. Probably just a privacy thing.

Just finished my live stream on Hard. Got to 5-1. I can't believe there were enemies with Ape Escape-like nets! Such a fucking tease! Love Knack.

Real friend names, like Facebook? I can understand that. Those Ape Escape nets look brutal.
 

jett

D-Member
Can anyone confirm if the cutscenes in Knack are real-time or FMV? Just a curiosity I had, since I assumed they were real-time but Digital Foundry said they were prerendered, which I'd be surprised since it'd be fairly obvious they were due to the amount of compression 1080p video would require, and the fact that the game doesn't fill up a BD at all, and I believe there's a lot of cutscenes in this thing.
 
I finally just started playing this about 2 hours ago, so much fun. I got to 3-1. It is kinda hard, I've died 10+ times already my only complaint is that the checkpoints are kinda far, otherwise I love it.

Did this game not come with an inserts in the case at all? All my other games came with codes for whatever and insert ads but all Knack had was the disc. Just making sure.
 
I'm really happy that you guys seems to actually be collectively liking it. I am on chapter 8, and I like the game quite a bit. I really do hope they make a Knack 2 down the line.

I absolutely love Knack (the character), especially his voice.
 

Sorian

Banned
I'm really happy that you guys seems to actually be collectively liking it. I am on chapter 8, and I like the game quite a bit. I really do hope they make a Knack 2 down the line.

I absolutely love Knack (the character), especially his voice.

Do we know who does his voice? It sound familiar but I can't place it.
 

Toki767

Member
This sums up Knack reviews. First thought that came to my mind when I was playing lol
iPaoEpbidik5V.gif
 

Sean*O

Member
I finally just started playing this about 2 hours ago, so much fun. I got to 3-1. It is kinda hard, I've died 10+ times already my only complaint is that the checkpoints are kinda far, otherwise I love it.

Did this game not come with an inserts in the case at all? All my other games came with codes for whatever and insert ads but all Knack had was the disc. Just making sure.

My case was empty as well, only control instructions printed on the case insert under the blue plastic.
 
done streaming. I wasas dying constantly xD die at the same spot over the same thing. never learn ;P even made the game harder than it should be.
 

drproton

Member
I'm at chapter 10 on hard, and I'm loving the game now.

Now that I've grown accustomed to the way Knack controls, it feels quick and responsive. And there's clearly a skill ceiling here much higher than most E10 rated games. It's no DMC or anything, but it doesn't need to be.
 

nynt9

Member
I also agree that the reviews were unnecessarily harsh. Knack never gets any new moves but the combat is super satisfying and the complexity of the game comes from throwing multiple enemy types at you simultaneously. I'm playing on hard and the game is super punishing, when I go into autopilot and stop paying attention I die almost immediately. Definitely a skill intensive game. But when you get through a section cleanly, it feels incredibly satisfying, and when you die it's never because the game is unfair, it's because you were bad and you know it immediately.
 

Sorian

Banned
I also agree that the reviews were unnecessarily harsh. Knack never gets any new moves but the combat is super satisfying and the complexity of the game comes from throwing multiple enemy types at you simultaneously. I'm playing on hard and the game is super punishing, when I go into autopilot and stop paying attention I die almost immediately. Definitely a skill intensive game. But when you get through a section cleanly, it feels incredibly satisfying, and when you die it's never because the game is unfair, it's because you were bad and you know it immediately.

Sometimes I call it unfair but really I died on a gamble. I knew the attack was coming and I choose to attack too hoping that mine would get off a split second earlier.
 

siddhu33

Member
Oh dear...
DOrcKCS.jpg

Order Cancelled!
Actually it's not really a problem, but the grammar police still need to arrive. This obviously has nothing to do with the game, which looks kinda fun.
 

Yoday

Member
I'm close to chapter 4 so far, and I am really loving this game. This is really going to be one of those games that people play and say "WTF?" at the reviews. It is just one of those kinds of games that for whatever reason was never going to review well, but is a blast to play. I played about a chapters worth of co-op, and that was so much fun. Having a buddy run around distracting enemies with chrome Knack (I like to call him Whack, because he's always whacking me in the back) while you sucker punch them in the back is just too much fun. Having no real death penalty also means that you can have a lot of fun just beating each other up until one of you eventually falls of a ledge. I really feel like anyone that enjoys old school games like Crash Bandicoot should ignore the reviews and pick up this game, or at the very least give it a go from GameFly.

Side note, I need more PSN friends that play the game so that I can get some more choice with my parts. Fell free to add YodaySunrider for another Knack playing friend. :)
 

Timu

Member
I played up to chapter 2-3 with my nephew. I've played worse. I would put it in the 7 range, from what I've played so far. The graphics are safe, but the IQ is very clean. The gameplay is somewhat repetitive, but they mix it up in enough to keep your interest. Knack, is what I thought it would be. A good to passable launch game that helps you pass the time while waiting for the heavy hitters.. If you own it, it's fun. If you don't, it's not something you need to run out and buy right away.
Yeah I can see myself putting it around that range as well.

Eh. Maybe, but not much better. Honestly, the game is just too...safe. Skylanders has more interesting combat and platforming. Hell, Bayonetta and God of War have more interesting platforming. And Bayonetta/Darksiders/a whole bunch more make two button combat interesting. Knack on the other hand offers simple point A to B traversal that rarely, if ever asks you to jump on anything more than the equivalent of staircases. The combat is a three hit punch and a dodge. That's it. There's nothing more to the game. And the worst part is, that it's tough and checkpoints are pretty unforgiving.

So it's generally pretty boring and punishes you to repeat the boring every time to you fail the frequent, boring arenas. And there's no flash to sugarcoat it. It's just... three hit combo, dodge, repeat. Mario has more interesting (much more varied) moves and combat is the least important part of that series. Whereas the combat arenas are more frequent here than God of War.
Oh wow, well, I'll keep playing, though you are spot on about the difficulty and checkpoints.
 

Kurod

Banned
This game is giving me the middle finger with unlockables. The parts are spread out so that now I need just one of each and suddenly all the chests are now giving me gems that are parts of a set to unlock different Knacks.
 

bumpkin

Member
So it's generally pretty boring and punishes you to repeat the boring every time to you fail the frequent, boring arenas. And there's no flash to sugarcoat it. It's just... three hit combo, dodge, repeat. Mario has more interesting (much more varied) moves and combat is the least important part of that series. Whereas the combat arenas are more frequent here than God of War.
I won't deny that there's only a three-hit combo that you'll spam to death, but do you not use any of the sun-stone powered abilities for crowd control or his diving jump attack as an opener? I'll give you that the combat is nowhere near as deep as other big action games in recent years, but I think the combat is what you make of it.
 

ascii42

Member
This game is giving me the middle finger with unlockables. The parts are spread out so that now I need just one of each and suddenly all the chests are now giving me gems that are parts of a set to unlock different Knacks.

Have you played the smartphone game? If not, maybe you can get something you need through that.
 
I won't deny that there's only a three-hit combo that you'll spam to death, but do you not use any of the sun-stone powered abilities for crowd control or his diving jump attack as an opener? I'll give you that the combat is nowhere near as deep as other big action games in recent years, but I think the combat is what you make of it.
Yeah, I think the combat works well within the context of this game. It's more of an old school test of your reflexes than a flashy move combofest.

I also don't find it boring. I had to force myself to stop playing today, so I can get some sleep for work. That's a good sign in my book.
 
D

Deleted member 17706

Unconfirmed Member
I'm glad I picked this game up. I'm really enjoying it. Just playing on Normal difficulty and only two chapters in, but it can be quite challenging. It's like a series of combat puzzles. The graphics are beautiful, too. Can't say I'm too fond of the human character designs or Knack, really, but it's a neat game.
 

rav

Member
Can anyone confirm if the cutscenes in Knack are real-time or FMV? Just a curiosity I had, since I assumed they were real-time but Digital Foundry said they were prerendered, which I'd be surprised since it'd be fairly obvious they were due to the amount of compression 1080p video would require, and the fact that the game doesn't fill up a BD at all, and I believe there's a lot of cutscenes in this thing.
I didn't see your post at first, and I did not see where DF came out and said it was prerendered. This is what I was writing:

I'm at the end of Chapter 7 (Hard Mode). I'll probably start streaming again, but taking a break for a little bit to order Pizza and see if anyone on GAF noticed something weird about the cut scenes.

So on Knack and edges I see what appears to be compression artifacts during cut scenes only. (Similar to JPG compression high values to low values causing ringing from the sine integral.)

If the cut scenes are in fact prerendered, that makes a bit more sense why they're constant 30 (from DF video) and why the download for the game is so large. It just makes me a little sad inside though as I think most everything in the cutscenes could actually be done in engine. (from a studio outsiders pov though, I did not work on this game)

Maybe it was in order to ship on time? Prerender the cutscenes while the rest of the render tech is getting up to framerate?

Edit: On gameplay topic though, I'm having a blast on hard. Way more fun that KZ was on hard, and I'll probably step that down to normal as I was stuck on the 2nd level.
 
Watching the stream. Knack's almost the definition of a glass cannon.

EDIT: Ah, that's hard mode? That might explain it. (Though I recall him being kinda fragile on Normal in the demo as well.)

It's not a bad thing. It really does encourage having to approach the encounters with some thought rather than mashing the attack button.
 

Beant

Member
I am on the final boss and have been playing the whole game on hard. The final boss is SOOO FRUSTRATING ARGUGHHHHHHH. Easily 10x worse than anything i have experienced so far, but I was really digging it up to this point. Hopefully there is something i am missing but its driving me mad.
 
I feel like this game got a little shit on by the reviewers. I wanted to kind of try all the games I got last night, played Killzone for about a half hour then decided to try Knack. I think I played it for about 4 hours. It sucked me in, I think it's a pretty fun game. But I've always been a fan of those kind of games so maybe that's why.
 
I feel like this game got a little shit on by the reviewers. I wanted to kind of try all the games I got last night, played Killzone for about a half hour then decided to try Knack. I think I played it for about 4 hours. It sucked me in, I think it's a pretty fun game. But I've always been a fan of those kind of games so maybe that's why.

Both PS4 retail launch exclusives got shat on and I honestly have no idea why.
 

rav

Member
heh. The break is more related to needing food and there will be grease upon grease (pizza hut). Hence not playing while eating. Definitely washing hands more than once before touching controllers again.

Watched that video, laughed pretty hard. I'm excited to play with the new Kinect too. (less than a week left to finish these ps4 games :p)
Mega64 is always right on the spot. Rocco is a pretty nice guy too.
 

rav

Member
I feel like this game got a little shit on by the reviewers. I wanted to kind of try all the games I got last night, played Killzone for about a half hour then decided to try Knack. I think I played it for about 4 hours. It sucked me in, I think it's a pretty fun game. But I've always been a fan of those kind of games so maybe that's why.

Yeah, I've been holding my judgement on reviews about Knack until after I beat the game. It's sucked me in too, I'm a huge fan. :)
 
I had 3 games when I cracked open the PS4 last night for the first time. I downloaded Contrast and Resogun too. I played each and we ended up playing Knack for like 6 hours on Hard, then I woke up at 6am to play again. I have no idea why but I'm loving it.

I am trophy hunting too, any missables?
 

Beant

Member
I am on the final boss and have been playing the whole game on hard. The final boss is SOOO FRUSTRATING ARGUGHHHHHHH. Easily 10x worse than anything i have experienced so far, but I was really digging it up to this point. Hopefully there is something i am missing but its driving me mad.

OK, it isn't as bad as i thought. Its definitely one of those fights where you can see yourself making more progress the more you do it, but it was really really frustrating at first because i was sort of going about it the wrong way. Ill write up a detailed review later.

I think it is a 6.5-7.5 range game for me.
 
Top Bottom