I understand why they thought this was a good idea: game's been out for a long time now so I can imagine a scenario where someone wants to play a new campaign on a different platform than they played the first campaign on. So it's cool / admirable that they wanna give people the option to spend less. And they've supported the heck out of this game to the point that the Treasure Trove is clearly way beyond where the base game was.
But also, they sure did create a real confusing mess.
Does the Dual Shock 4 work natively in Shovel Knight or not? (not talking about setting one up via big picture mode, this causes me random issues I'm not gonna go in to).
SK doesn't even recognize that I have a controller plugged in if I use my DS4. It recognizes it as a random other pad if I use DS4Windows (has numbers for buttons) though.
Specter Knight campaign is a thousand deaths by endless pitfalls.
Frankly, for me, the original Shovel campaign is by miles the best of the three. I don't think YSG really managed to balance difficulty right with the others, among other things. At least Specter controls nicely, unlike Plague.
Specter Knight campaign is a thousand deaths by endless pitfalls.
Frankly, for me, the original Shovel campaign is by miles the best of the three. I don't think YSG really managed to balance difficulty right with the others, among other things. At least Specter controls nicely, unlike Plague.
It's really not. But I can understand how you might feel that way early in the game. By mid-game I feel confident that you will also come around and feel that the level design and platforming in Specter is the best of the 3. But it loses points for having really easy combat due his totally overpowered moveset.
It's really not. But I can understand how you might feel that way early in the game. By mid-game I feel confident that you will also come around and feel that the level design and platforming in Specter is the best of the 3. But it loses points for having really easy combat due his totally overpowered moveset.
He's got a mean ole ball-and-chain "wife" always nagging at him, and then he's got a husbando / senpai. Even though I was generally down on the campaign, I thought the story stuff was lovely if never surprising.
When is this actually available for PS4, see so many conflicting reports, people saying 5th April but I've got nothing coming up on the game can only play as Shovel Knight and Plague Knight.
Does the Dual Shock 4 work natively in Shovel Knight or not? (not talking about setting one up via big picture mode, this causes me random issues I'm not gonna go in to).
SK doesn't even recognize that I have a controller plugged in if I use my DS4. It recognizes it as a random other pad if I use DS4Windows (has numbers for buttons) though.
Not sure about the DS4 specifically, but there's a bug with controller button labels. They said a patch is coming to get proper labels back instead of numbers.
I finally finished it and yeah, the reward is garbage, haha. It's nice to have the achievement, I guess.
Game has been very satisfying so far. I'm at the final area now after a little over four hours of game play. The boss fights are a little too easy (thanks to Specter's ability to do the slash lock-on and a few overpowered curios) but the platforming definitely feels tougher this time around. I have to give the team credit for all the work they've put in completely redoing the levels. They're great.
Specter of Torment was a great campaign. My favourite of the bunch from a level design perspective - I didn't expect Yacht Club to essentially remix them entirely complete with new gimmicks et al - and I enjoyed the little animation touches in the hub such as
having the Memmec play around with those purple orbs
,
impressing that Fonzi wannabe with your edge
,
your scytheboard tricks
,
dropping the lantern fire on that one knight
et cetera a lot. The redesigned bosses were cool too and Horace's gauntlet was procedural generation done right, if a tad bit too long only due to how the handcrafted screens were occasionally repeated during a full duration run. The remixed soundtrack largely left me ambivalent though; very hit-or-miss, but the new tracks were fine.
Really curious to see how they're going to differentiate King Knight's campaign, given that ability-wise he's kind of vanilla compared to the rest.
Specter Knight campaign is a thousand deaths by endless pitfalls.
Frankly, for me, the original Shovel campaign is by miles the best of the three. I don't think YSG really managed to balance difficulty right with the others, among other things. At least Specter controls nicely, unlike Plague.
I dunno, having completed Specter Knight's DLC, I never felt the amount of pitfalls were disproportionate to how previous campaigns were designed.
Most of my deaths instead came from how belligerent the bosses were compared to before, but that's also because I only sporadically used Curios while not healing as a self-imposed challenge. Got the impression they were largely designed as foils for those who were fully familiar with their patterns, rather than someone rusty like me who played each campaign with many months in between. Rude awakening, but still fair with clear-cut openings from what I gathered once you know how to position yourself.
I finished Specter of Torment! Maybe I was too harsh before, annoyed by some momentary moments of frustration. It's a good campaign, but I still like Shovel the best. It's really insane that they created an almost entirely new game with this, and for free. YSG needs to be more judicious in the future, for their own good. I hope they don't spend that much time on the next update, I'm ready to see an actually new game from these guys. Been three years of shoveling 8-bit diamonds, rubies and pearls.
I liked Spectre better than Plague whichjust turned into "pause the game to switch bombs" for me. I did hope for some "almost-endless" gauntlet as some sort of extra challenge since I like the movement a lot but it's a decent little campaign regardless.
Still think all the "rematch" challenges are terrible though.
I liked Spectre better than Plague whichjust turned into "pause the game to switch bombs" for me. I did hope for some "almost-endless" gauntlet as some sort of extra challenge since I like the movement a lot but it's a decent little campaign regardless.
Still think all the "rematch" challenges are terrible though.
They did, been that way since the beginning I believe. You can change it in the options. It's still a pain and kind of kills pacing though, luckily the ones I majorly use with Specter are adjacent to each other.
I do think the autorun can occasionally feel like it gets in the way, and getting the right angle to dash through an enemy/object can be a little too tight, but both were fairly rare occurrences. Otherwise, I think he's great. The rail mail armor is awesome but I didn't get around to totally mastering it.
I did 2 playthroughs of this. While I probably still like PK's moveset and story the most, I think Specter of Torment has the best level design and pacing of the 3, and I'm tempted to say it's the best campaign overall. Very impressive stuff from Yacht Club.
Maybe it's because I just came out of NieR Automata, but the ending left me feeling drained and bummed the fuck out. Since it is a prequel, I should have seen it coming that all the credits sequences were about The Order fucking shit up throughout the land. Seeing them demolish stuff and chasing people away affected me in a way I just did not expect. I'm really glad this isn't the final expansion, because it's a downer to end the series on.
Depressing endings aside, I really liked it. Specter Knight's moveset is easier to grasp than the Plague Knight, and requires much less swapping things in and out. The dashing, wall-runs, and cool curios make for a much more fluid and natural experience than the other ones. You end up feeling overpowered pretty fast, which is fitting for the game's narrative. Speaking of the narrative, for how simple these games are, I can't help but be impressed every single time. They manage to squeeze out a lot of character and interesting stories out of these simple graphics with rather limited dialogue. The hub world is great, with plenty of little secrets that are easy enough to find on your own.
I have only two gripes with the game. While I appreciate that they remixed the music, I cannot help but compare the music to the other versions, and I often liked the old renditions more. Not a huge problem, but one nonetheless. The other thing I had was that I jumped into a bottomless put in the King Knight stage almost immediately. The reason for it was that one of the floors ended up being a background element. This can easily be tweaked by changing the palette of those parts into less saturated colours. That floor really tripped me up and messed up with the flow of that stage.
Still, highly recommended. Kind of impressive that an expansion of a platformer is being able to hold its own during an onslaught of fantastic games. I'll definitely be remembering this one for my GotY list.
Finished this earlier. I think I might like Specter better than Shovel... It's just so cool with all the air dash attacking and wall running etc. I'll have to go back and try Plague again because I really wasn't feeling him but maybe going back fresh could help?
Finished this earlier. I think I might like Specter better than Shovel... It's just so cool with all the air dash attacking and wall running etc. I'll have to go back and try Plague again because I really wasn't feeling him but maybe going back fresh could help?
I didn't beat Plague of Shadows when it first came out either. I was a bit overwhelmed by the options, and I just wasn't feeling the flow. I ended up putting it down after a few stages. When I picked it back up, I started from scratch, and I can highly recommend that choice. Plague Knight is not very intuitive, and his moveset is too complex to jump in the deep end with. Starting over lets you gradually expand your options, making it easier to get accustomed to them. There's tons of flexibility to this system, and everything you'll need to ace a stage, will be available for purchase before you'll need it. The only thing I never bothered to mix up were the burst types. I used the slow-fall one pretty much exclusively for the entire campaign.
I ended up loving the expansion once it clicked, though I do think it's the weakest of the three.
I've been so excited to play this on 3ds when it comes out in a few days but I signed into Steam today and realized I had it there. Said screw it I'll play it on my PC. Really enjoying it, I didn't like Plague Knight too much, had a really hard time adapting to the controls. This though is pretty great. Different enough, but also easy enough of a change. Beat the first boss and halfway thru the second stage.
How do you download the update? Can this only be done with the digital version on Wii U? I've tried a few times now and I can't seem to trigger my Wii U to update
Going to new game just asks me if I want to play as Shoval Knight or Plague Knight :/
I hope they don't spend that much time on the next update, I'm ready to see an actually new game from these guys. Been three years of shoveling 8-bit diamonds, rubies and pearls.
