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Knack |OT| Playin' Knack in my Tub!
- Thread starter Tsundere
- Start date
gutter_trash
Banned
how did you beat the Eye in 5-4 on very hard? I'm stuck on this level, I can't run fast enough and i retryed a dozen times
SPACECADET
Member
There's something about Knack that makes it hard for me to put it down. It's really easy to play and deceptively simple but tough to master. I've already sank 50 hours into it and beat it six times. I even beat it on Very Hard with regular Knack! Although my brain says this game is a 7, I really love it. I think this is a great game to speed run.
By the way, 8-1 is definitely the hardest part of the game--at least for me.
i agree
and i just beat level 8, so lame. i feel like i was pretty damn thorough and there were only 2 hidden item locations i could find in the whole lot. that is my crack right now. going dow those stairs smacking open that box and seeing what i can get is fun. i want that damn hidden item locator built so i can stop wasting my time hugging walls.
Don't stop (except to smash relics) and keep jumping.
Running and using dash to get behind the pillars as fast as possible so I could conserve my relics.
WheelHoss1
Member
Exactly. A game that gets a 4 should be broken. This game is repetitive, but it is very polished. I can't see it getting lower than a 6 and deserves about a 7.5 imo
gutter_trash
Banned
lol, I farmed two stocks of Sunstone for 5-4 very hard, as soon as i thought i was in trouble against the giant Eye: I activated my Sun Storm.
used it once to get into the first pit and used a 2nd time when the giant blocks blocked my way and I wanted to stay alive. LOL.
I'm passed it! Now I am at 7-2 very hard. Calling it a night. Platinum awaits zzzzzzzzzz
used it once to get into the first pit and used a 2nd time when the giant blocks blocked my way and I wanted to stay alive. LOL.
I'm passed it! Now I am at 7-2 very hard. Calling it a night. Platinum awaits zzzzzzzzzz
It isn't any more repetitive than Ghosts and BF4, which scored significantly higher than Knack.
I finished the Ghosts campaign and was very unimpressed. It was like shooting fish in a barrel, with the predictable "breach this door" and "you snipe the guy on the left, I'll snipe the guy on the right" parts that we've already done in MW2 and MW3.
Knack is a breathe of fresh air after all the FPS games that came out recently. Most reviewers didn't even give it credit for it's unique and innovative tag along co-op feature.
I agree, i have never cared about review scores but this time i really do, i got the game for free and didn't expect much after reading and watching reviews, even since the games was unveiled i kept saying the game looked bland and boring. So i was the first to be surprised at how good and fun it actually is. I'm kinda upset it got so bad reviews. The graphics, animation, presentation and overall polish alone warrant a better score than a fucking 4. The story is miles better than many AAA games today and the characters, at least Knack and Lucas are also above the average crap we get in most games today.
It's clear to me any shortcomings the game might have are due to it having to make launch. Like i said, the combat is simple but the enemies keep changing and you have to adjust your strategy acordingly, great variety in the enemies too which i love. I will be actually sad if this game doesn't sell enough to warrant a sequel, it would instantly be one of my most anticipated games.
Edit: FWIW i have played most Skylanders games as well as a couple Lego games with my son and this is much better than all of them, including Marvel Heroes which is extremely repetitive and easy. Most puzzles involve destroying everything in sight until you find something to asemble in order to move to the next small room. And that game got 9's everywhere wtf, it's not a bad game but it's not an amazing game either.
It's clear to me any shortcomings the game might have are due to it having to make launch. Like i said, the combat is simple but the enemies keep changing and you have to adjust your strategy acordingly, great variety in the enemies too which i love. I will be actually sad if this game doesn't sell enough to warrant a sequel, it would instantly be one of my most anticipated games.
Edit: FWIW i have played most Skylanders games as well as a couple Lego games with my son and this is much better than all of them, including Marvel Heroes which is extremely repetitive and easy. Most puzzles involve destroying everything in sight until you find something to asemble in order to move to the next small room. And that game got 9's everywhere wtf, it's not a bad game but it's not an amazing game either.
Fushichou187
Member
Finally got my platinum today. So now that I've experienced all that Knack has to offer me for the moment, my overall thoughts about my run, the good, the bad, and the could've-been-great-ifs;
The Good:
- The music. I really enjoyed some of the more dramatic, over-the-top "adventure!" scores they put in there. Made me nostalgic for those scores from 80's summer movies.
- The difficulty. I cursed at the TV while playing Knack. A lot. However I didn't feel like the difficulty was cheap but rather that it rewarded mastery. I did my Very Hard run all in one sitting today precisely because I felt extremely comfortable with the controls and managing the encounters. I felt powerful even though I knew enemies could still one-shot me. For me, that type of difficulty learning curve is very satisfying. It's not everyone's cup of tea, I get that, but I kept coming back for more.
- Stealth Knack & Swapping. Easily some of the most fun I had in the game was playing SK and swapping between him and Regular Knack. It allowed for varied environment puzzles, made sense in the context of the game, and was implemented really well imo.
The Bad:
- The story/characterization.
- The collectibles. The randomizing of the loot, and the inconsistency of what could be shared between friends, made things unnecessarily grind-y in game that absolutely didn't need to feel more tedious. I think the gadgets themselves, and the Knacks you can unlock via crystals, were really cool but the implementation of where and how you got them was poor, imo.
- NG+. Your collectibles shouldn't get wiped on a NG+ run. That's just silly.
The Could've-Been-Great-Ifs:
- The Swap Mechanic. This ought to have been a core gameplay feature. The problem with Knack becoming different types throughout the game is that they feel tacked-on; It adds an additional buffer to your health to make you feel a bit more powerful and there's also some sort of mechanic that drains it from you: Sunlight for Ice, Fire for Wood, the Magnet Beams for Metal. Had they only approached each of those types with the same kind of thoughtfulness in terms of implementation and level design that they did with Stealth Knack-- and included the ability to swap-out between it and regular Knack... man oh man.. things could've been really special, imo.
- More levels like
. That chapter was able to convey a sense of scale and size-- and the transition to it-- to great effect. It would've been nice if we another chapter or two that hit its beats as well as that chapter.
- Extra Game Modes. The Time Trials and Coliseum modes make for nice distractions for the leaderboard-minded, but they are far too easy to complete (with Diamond Knack) in order to get their respective trophies and ended up feeling like a time sink, that there could've been more. They could have done more with a game mode that lets Knack be giant; there ought to have been a Rampage-esque minigame. The End.
Overall: 7/10. Had a lot of fun with the game and hope they continue on with the franchise. Definitely underrated.
The Good:
- The music. I really enjoyed some of the more dramatic, over-the-top "adventure!" scores they put in there. Made me nostalgic for those scores from 80's summer movies.
- The difficulty. I cursed at the TV while playing Knack. A lot. However I didn't feel like the difficulty was cheap but rather that it rewarded mastery. I did my Very Hard run all in one sitting today precisely because I felt extremely comfortable with the controls and managing the encounters. I felt powerful even though I knew enemies could still one-shot me. For me, that type of difficulty learning curve is very satisfying. It's not everyone's cup of tea, I get that, but I kept coming back for more.
- Stealth Knack & Swapping. Easily some of the most fun I had in the game was playing SK and swapping between him and Regular Knack. It allowed for varied environment puzzles, made sense in the context of the game, and was implemented really well imo.
The Bad:
- The story/characterization.
You know your writing is off when the player starts empathizing more with the antagonists than your heroes. I felt really bad for the Goblins and Gundahar in particular. All the humans characters in this game act like grade-A assholes, our key characters of the Doctor and Ryder in particular. God I wanted them all to die in a fire. Knack's voice acting aside, I really felt his actions and dialogue make him out to be a total tool, especially the larger he became.
- The collectibles. The randomizing of the loot, and the inconsistency of what could be shared between friends, made things unnecessarily grind-y in game that absolutely didn't need to feel more tedious. I think the gadgets themselves, and the Knacks you can unlock via crystals, were really cool but the implementation of where and how you got them was poor, imo.
- NG+. Your collectibles shouldn't get wiped on a NG+ run. That's just silly.
The Could've-Been-Great-Ifs:
- The Swap Mechanic. This ought to have been a core gameplay feature. The problem with Knack becoming different types throughout the game is that they feel tacked-on; It adds an additional buffer to your health to make you feel a bit more powerful and there's also some sort of mechanic that drains it from you: Sunlight for Ice, Fire for Wood, the Magnet Beams for Metal. Had they only approached each of those types with the same kind of thoughtfulness in terms of implementation and level design that they did with Stealth Knack-- and included the ability to swap-out between it and regular Knack... man oh man.. things could've been really special, imo.
- More levels like
Chapter 13
- Extra Game Modes. The Time Trials and Coliseum modes make for nice distractions for the leaderboard-minded, but they are far too easy to complete (with Diamond Knack) in order to get their respective trophies and ended up feeling like a time sink, that there could've been more. They could have done more with a game mode that lets Knack be giant; there ought to have been a Rampage-esque minigame. The End.
Overall: 7/10. Had a lot of fun with the game and hope they continue on with the franchise. Definitely underrated.
Okay, it is thefirstPS4 game I've played, but I am very positively surprised at this game. Combat feels AMAZING and I love how often I'm dying even on normal. I can see why people would be turned of by the limited move set and enemies that are not that varied so far (played until the Goblin fortress even though I originally planned to try Knack until Ass Creed 4 had downloaded the Aveline missions, I didn't want to stop), but I really, really love the combat. I generally like games where I need to be careful or die quickly, especially when the difficulty doesn't come from spongy enemies, but both sides doing heavy damage. Replaying GoW encounters can be boring when you whack at the same Cyclops for several minutes on each try, but stuff like Uncharted 1 on Crushing is great.
Knack is more like the latter so far, I can be one or two shotted if I try to rush, but replaying encounters isn't tedious because stuff dies quickly. I laughed out loud when I got that I was supposed to hide in the little cave from the rock that one Orc rolls at you instead of jumping it and rushed at the Orc to avenge my two or three deaths at his hands/rock, only to eat a swing of his sabre and die instantly. Not using the sunstone(?) moves to make it harder for myself.
Platforming? I don't give a crap about platforming. I spent most of my time in Super Mario 64 beating up or butt stomping enemies and skipped most of the stars where you had to do crazy jumps. I think I had one star in the tick-tock level and weird cloud level combined. It's jut not for me.
Graphics are charming, but a bit inconsitant. Performance should be improved, though. Knack looks really adorable when he's at his tiniest and weakest <3
Overall I'm glad that I belong to the group of people who enjoy this instead of feeling like I wasted my free game from the 3 for 2 deal on it.
PS: Can you up the difficulty without restarting? I might just do that.
Knack is more like the latter so far, I can be one or two shotted if I try to rush, but replaying encounters isn't tedious because stuff dies quickly. I laughed out loud when I got that I was supposed to hide in the little cave from the rock that one Orc rolls at you instead of jumping it and rushed at the Orc to avenge my two or three deaths at his hands/rock, only to eat a swing of his sabre and die instantly. Not using the sunstone(?) moves to make it harder for myself.
Platforming? I don't give a crap about platforming. I spent most of my time in Super Mario 64 beating up or butt stomping enemies and skipped most of the stars where you had to do crazy jumps. I think I had one star in the tick-tock level and weird cloud level combined. It's jut not for me.
Graphics are charming, but a bit inconsitant. Performance should be improved, though. Knack looks really adorable when he's at his tiniest and weakest <3
Overall I'm glad that I belong to the group of people who enjoy this instead of feeling like I wasted my free game from the 3 for 2 deal on it.
PS: Can you up the difficulty without restarting? I might just do that.
Fushichou187
Member
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=91244104&postcount=1233
You can only farm chests that you've opened but haven't picked-up anything from. You'll end up playing the chapter from the beginning in this method so try to only do it with chests that are close to the beginning of the chapter for easier runs. Lots of them to choose from in the early stages all the way to stage 5. Also 7-1's first chest is super close to the beginning. Chapter select unfortunately doesn't restore chests.
Glad you're enjoying it! You're certainly in good company here since it appears Knack has made a pretty good impression on most of us that have put the time into it. I don't know about changing the difficulty mid-game.... I do know that if you're going from trophies, the Very Hard difficulty is only unlocked via completing the game on Hard, which needs to be done right from the beginning of a new game, I think. Also, be sure to add people from the Knack PSN ID list [LINK] to make opening chests not such a frustrating affair!
How are you meant to get all the items then, is there enough chests to get every item even?
Continue again from 1-1. (not new game)
gutter_trash
Banned
when you open a chest, don't press X to accept the unwanted stone.
press hold PS button and CLOSE APPLICATION
then restart Knack.
This way, you don't do a SAVE GAME with an unwanted stone. Then try again to see if you actually get a diamond
1-2 is a great level to do this. Has 4 treasure chests and the stage is relatively short.
6-3 is another great level with lots of chests and short stage.
when you get a stone you like, press X to accept. Like that, that chest is opened and you got your good stone.
Plus, if you have friends who play this game. They names appear on the right with the last item to go from that particular chest. You can take the item they found (don't worry, you are not stealing it from them). So if your friend found a diamond on ''this'' chest, you can opt to chose his treasure.
Any stage that has an early chest is great to farm on.
gutter_trash
Banned
some may take many retries to get what you want. I am playing very hard and I used this tactic of farming to try to get the parts earlier for Sunstone Battery, Doubler Battery and Harvester.
Now I got these three fully assembled, I'm set on my Platinum this week
Now I got these three fully assembled, I'm set on my Platinum this week
Fushichou187
Member
This is where my time spent in that iOS app (Knack's Quest) was vindicated. All gadget parts unlocked via the app will cary over to a new game. That's probably why I was able to do my Very Hard run in one sitting; I had all my relevant gadgets fully constructed by the end of Chapter 4.
gutter_trash
Banned
if you unlock Diamond Knack in normal mode. Characters are selectable on new games for Very Hard
Fushichou187
Member
Yeah, I unlocked DK halfway through my second playthrough. I used DK for my Very Hard run but the gadgets; both batteries, the transmuter, and harvester make speedrunning a lot easier.
Lord Error
Insane For Sony
The should put some demo for this game up for download already. Looking at some of the videos of people playing it, reading the impressions here, it really doesn't look that bad.
I was playing the Lego Marvel Heroes demo last night and was really wondering how it got such high scores? I mean is it really possible that Knack is *that* much worse or so completely broken that it scores so far below this pretty much entirely mindless and boring, but somewhat technically competent game? From videos it sure doesn't look like it. Does Lego Marvel get a pass because it's a cross gen game so the standards are lower, or because it uses popular characters? Were the people reviewing this game so sick of Cerny hype that they reviewed it extra-harshly? Either way I can say I was a bit baffled with just how underwhelming the Marvel Lego demo was for something that scored so high.
I was playing the Lego Marvel Heroes demo last night and was really wondering how it got such high scores? I mean is it really possible that Knack is *that* much worse or so completely broken that it scores so far below this pretty much entirely mindless and boring, but somewhat technically competent game? From videos it sure doesn't look like it. Does Lego Marvel get a pass because it's a cross gen game so the standards are lower, or because it uses popular characters? Were the people reviewing this game so sick of Cerny hype that they reviewed it extra-harshly? Either way I can say I was a bit baffled with just how underwhelming the Marvel Lego demo was for something that scored so high.
gutter_trash
Banned
be sure to max up your Sunstone batteries before entring 13-4. On my first play through, I got my ass whooped.
Knowing this on HARD, I decided to be singy and conserve my Sunstones max until i meat up with that boss. I kept Three for 13-4 and used the rest for 13-5
The demo that's on US retail kiosks certainly helped me make up my mind to buy it. I really have no idea why it's not available for download. But the game seems to be doing well enough just based on word of mouth.
Lord Error
Insane For Sony
I can't find a kiosk here with the playable demo, unless I'm not looking where I should. The demo kiosk at Best Buy here in Canada have a large selection of videos to chose from, but that's it from what I could tell. You can even watch a ton of videos of PS3 and Vita games.
MeBecomingI
Member
I just want to say that this game is really, really underrated. I'm not sure what was eating at the reviewers, but most reviews for this game were incredibly off the mark.
It just feels very good. It is very challenging, but not in a cheap way. There are times where it is infuriating but that comes from me making a mistake and not timing a jump properly or missing a punch. I quite like the character of Knack too. The differences in his demeanor when he is small and large are fun to watch. The story is fun, if a little barren to me, but I could imagine it might be a lot more entertaining if I was a kid again.
Visually, I really like it. I love the art style. Environments are beautiful, especially in the more natural settings. Music is fantastic, especially the more upbeat fun stuff that tends to play when you are in a more natural setting.
The game reminds me of a blend between Crash, Jak and Daxter and God of War. It really is a good game. Not remarkable by any means, but really good.
It just feels very good. It is very challenging, but not in a cheap way. There are times where it is infuriating but that comes from me making a mistake and not timing a jump properly or missing a punch. I quite like the character of Knack too. The differences in his demeanor when he is small and large are fun to watch. The story is fun, if a little barren to me, but I could imagine it might be a lot more entertaining if I was a kid again.
Visually, I really like it. I love the art style. Environments are beautiful, especially in the more natural settings. Music is fantastic, especially the more upbeat fun stuff that tends to play when you are in a more natural setting.
The game reminds me of a blend between Crash, Jak and Daxter and God of War. It really is a good game. Not remarkable by any means, but really good.
I can tell you i have played both games co op with my son, tho Lego was on 360, Knack is way more fun and it's actually challenging, i really don't get how Marvel Heroes got such high review scores and Knack was knocked for it's simple combat and repetitivenes? Lego is more simple and repetitive than Knack to me and way easier.
If you have kids or someone to play co op with,you should get it, no way you won't get your monies worth, i have only played co op so i can only recomend that.
The kiosk I found was at a Target. This was a week or so before launch. It had demos for Knack, Contrast and maybe a few others.
gutter_trash
Banned
a New Game on different difficulty level does not carry over your gadgets and stone inventroy
but, if you unlocked other Knacks such as Diamon Knack, he will be selectable when you chose a New Game
so Diamiond Knack stays but you must rebuild your Gadgets again
Fushichou187
Member
The way it works is once you complete the game, it unlocks two game modes (Time Trials and Coliseum), and Chapter Select. You can select "Continue" and it will start the game over at the same difficulty you beat it at, but you will keep your collectibles to try and complete everything. You can also do Chapter Select and mop up some chapter-specific trophies using any versions of Knack you've unlocked. I suppose the "continue a new game but on the level you beat it at" is their version of a NG+. *shrugs*
If you want to start a NEW game however-- say, you want to try that Hard or Very Hard run-- you will start from scratch.
The PS Blog last Friday reiterated "coming soon", whenever that's supposed to be. I imagine they'd like to get it out as soon as possible.
cpp_is_king
Member
You can fill up again after 13-4 right before 13-5. There's 3 rooms worth of monsters, after you kill them fall off the cliff and you start over. Repeat 15-20 times until you're maxed.
A full 8 bars of sunstones makes 13-5 a complete joke. You can tornado all the way through his lasers while you're in little form to get your body back, and then you can tornado again once he goes into sword attack mode to instantly phase change / damage him.
gutter_trash
Banned
LOL! Will do for safety, anything to make 13-5 easy
Lordwindowlicker
Member
I completed it last night, and was sad to find out that (at least as far as I can see) you can't acquire the collectables while skipping chapters via chapter select mode.
LAME!
LAME!
cpp_is_king
Member
Welcome to the club! Pretty much agree with your assessment. In any case, I'm sure you're eager to get to some other games, as I definitely was. I've been working on Trine 2: Complete Story right now. That game is fucking magical, I can't believe it's getting so little coverage. Especially if you have a 3D TV, definitely try it. It's easily the prettiest game on the PS4 right now IMO.
gutter_trash
Banned
LOL, it's so true! Knack is enabling the humans to perform
When you really think about it,
Goblin Genocide
When you really think about it,
Gandahar is just looking out to preserve his people from oblivion
Lordwindowlicker
Member
Nah,
he was attacking peaceful people directly, and acting like a warmonger. They mentioned that humans may have initiated conflict in the past, but they never state exactly how long ago that was.. I'd imagine that it was a pretty large chunk of time. You cannot punish the son for the sins of the father.
Fushichou187
Member
I think I'll be dipping into both Resogun and Trine 2 next. I picked up Trine 2 in that Amazon DD bundle a week or so ago with Flower and Super Motherlode. Had Flower already so I gifted it to a friend who just got a PS4. Trine 2 looks gorgeous and should make for some fun co-op.
You can continue adding to your collectibles using the "Continue" option after you finish the game. It essentially will let you play through again but with your collectibles and at the same difficulty you beat it at. The chapter select is really only there to get specific trophies as well as replay sections that you particularly enjoyed. If you really want to get all those crystal collectibles quickly definitely add some GAFers to your friends list as well as using the restart/"dashboard" farming method for diamonds since those cannot be shared.
But... you can punish the children of the losers/defenders with continued marginalization? I mean, this is a topic that is perennially timely and just illustrates how much better the writing could have been had they approached it in a more thoughtful manner. I'm not expecting some FernGully level of preaching to go on here, but the dismissive attitudes of the humans in this game was just grating to me.
Moz La Punk
Member
I'm really warming up to this game. I didnt think much of it at first (even though Im a sucker for these type of games) but I just keep playing it. Strange. I am streaming the game right now, so if you're still on the fence maybe watching some gameplay can help. I'm in chapter 4 so I guess close to midway in the game.
cpp_is_king
Member
Yea I tend to agree. I mean the scene when they defeated Gandahar and he was like "we just want to live in peace on our lands that YOU humans drove us out of", and then the doctor was like "whatever, let's don't bring this up again". It's like wow, you're an ass. Maybe he's actually not an ass and that could have been clarified with some extra backstory, but it's exactly the backstory that was missing. All we know are, humans fight goblins, goblins claim that they were forcefully removed from their lands, humans don't really give a shit and don't care to hear the goblins out.
Lordwindowlicker
Member
Yeah, the writing isn't great but he's still in the wrong if you ask me.
The main problem I had with the story is when main characters do something/find something integral to their goal, and then the bad guys come up from behind right off camera and say, "we'll take that, thanks for doing the hard work for us! Muhahah!"
This happens 23 times in the game. I could be off by one or two.
This happens 23 times in the game. I could be off by one or two.