---Intro
So I was sent a Play-Asia update, a week or two ago and as always I browsed their DS section for any new games of interest. I was intrigued heavily by this game seeing how pretty the box art was. Reading a bit deeper into it, it has been developed by Sting. And being the Atlus whore that I am, I tested it out.
Now for those who don't know Sting, they are the guys that made my favorite GBA game ever, Riviera: The Promised Land. They also followed up with another awesome game called Yggdra Union: We'll Never Fight Alone. The term follow up might seem misleading because neither game actually had any connection. It's not a sequel. However, Knights in the Nightmare is being released as "Department Heaven: Episode Four". Episode 1 and 2 are apparently Riviera and Yggdra Union, (episode three isn't released yet but it appears to be a spinoff of Yggdra Union called Yggdra Unison: Overcome the Obstacle).
So, if you're already a fan of this "Department Heaven" series of unconnected games, I will go ahead and tell you and get this one because once again, Sting has created an intense world with its own distinctive combat system. While the game is only available in Japanese, you can play it without really needing to read anything. They have all the tutorials and demonstrations that you'll need available before you even start the game. On with the review.
------End Intro
------Storyline:
I wish I could say more about this but I can't due to the fact it's written in Japanese. However, the basis of the storyline is tied in exceptionally well to the way that combat works. There's a king who ruled the land and some bad demon dude decides to get in his base, kill his dudes, the usual deal. To compress a lot of details, the demon let loose the "Nightmare" which turned all of the King's knights into Spirits. You are an awakened Wisp travelling to find out just what happened in the castle. However, you're stopped by numerous monsters and other things on the way. As the Wisp has the ability to temporarily awaken the spirits of the Knights to fight for him (or her). That's as far as I understand from reading different sites.
-----Gameplay:
Now this is where this game shines. If you've played and liked the Touhou games, then you should definitely like this part of the game. In short, you have to kill the enemies while avoiding the enemy fire. Battles are shown on the top screen with you controlling the Wisp via touch pad. Moving the Wisp over a Knight will bring them back to life. They have different ranges and attack types that become key to timing. At the beginning of every fight, you set four items to the side. So far, they're either Key Items or Weapons. To use a weapon, guide the Wisp over the item of choice and put it over the Knight that can use it. You have to guide your Knight in the right direction and hold for maximum range and damage. It sounds simple, but with the amount of things that can go on in the field at the same time (mainly the insane number of fire being aimed at you), it can prove difficult. You also have to collect gems on screen. These 'mana gems' allow you to use the weapons, so, of course, the more you have, the more you can spam your high damaging attacks.
There's also a Law/Chaos switch that, when flipped, changes 'something' in the area. So far, all I have noticed is that the screen shifts Blue/Red and depending on what trigger you're on, your Knights have different ranges. Also, certain weapons can only be used on a certain side. You'll end up switching back and forth from Law and Chaos to use certain weapons when enemies come within a certain range.
So you have mana gems to collect, weapons and items to move around, Knights to select and aim with for them to deal damage, and all while avoiding enemy fire. You can see how this game can become hectic very fast. If you don't, then let me mention the time limit. You get (45-50) 'energy-seconds' to clear a field. I call it that because time doesn't constantly tick away. It only does when you're doing something. Moving around the stage does nothing, but selecting a Knight will drain some. Also, when hit with enemy fire, you'll lose about two seconds of energy-time.
At the end of a round, they give you a letter grade on how well you did. A+ being my current highest (I don't know if they felt like adding A++ or something... I never got it if they did). You select your next opponents via Enemy Slot Machine. Any enemies not killed get added to the slot machine with their remaining health as well as a number of other creatures. To beat a chapter, you have to get a glowing enemy from the slots (called the Reach) and kill it. AFter that, the chapter ends, the Wisp advances as does the rest of the storyline.
-----Extra Stuff:
Apparently there's an entire customization thing where you take the spirit of one Knight, and put it into that of another. This "Trans-Soul" process will destroy the former Knight, but increase the power of the Latter. Apparently this does something with their skills and vitality, but because of the language barrier, I can't really get too deep into it. However, I can say from what I've read elsewhere, that there's over 200 playable characters. Which means, you have a lot of fusion capabilities for your dream team of Knights.
Music: I haven't paid too much attention to this, but I did realize that I was humming it in class two days in a row. They have pretty good music to go with their game.
-----Personal Review:
Maybe it's just me selling myself to the guys that make these games all the time, but I can seriously say that this is one game that you shouldn't definitely get for a DS. It has the fun, colorful, addictive feeling that you look for in good DS Games. When the English version releases, I'm certain that it'll have a story that's as mind-grabbing as the gameplay itself. I have high hopes for this game. A lot of it is banking on how well the story rolls out, but the gameplay has definitely sold me on the idea of buying it when it comes to the states. So, this game is definitely for anyone who has liked the previous Sting games for their innovative gameplay characteristics. For anyone else, check out the Youtube gameplay trailer to see if it's something in your ball park.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWVOCDzTPCo
-----End Review
(Also, this is my first review. Tell me if you liked it, if there's something I left out that you find important, anything. I find reviews to be, if anything, interesting to read and I like hearing about games that no one ever really plays or even hears about. Critiques welcome.
So I was sent a Play-Asia update, a week or two ago and as always I browsed their DS section for any new games of interest. I was intrigued heavily by this game seeing how pretty the box art was. Reading a bit deeper into it, it has been developed by Sting. And being the Atlus whore that I am, I tested it out.
Now for those who don't know Sting, they are the guys that made my favorite GBA game ever, Riviera: The Promised Land. They also followed up with another awesome game called Yggdra Union: We'll Never Fight Alone. The term follow up might seem misleading because neither game actually had any connection. It's not a sequel. However, Knights in the Nightmare is being released as "Department Heaven: Episode Four". Episode 1 and 2 are apparently Riviera and Yggdra Union, (episode three isn't released yet but it appears to be a spinoff of Yggdra Union called Yggdra Unison: Overcome the Obstacle).
So, if you're already a fan of this "Department Heaven" series of unconnected games, I will go ahead and tell you and get this one because once again, Sting has created an intense world with its own distinctive combat system. While the game is only available in Japanese, you can play it without really needing to read anything. They have all the tutorials and demonstrations that you'll need available before you even start the game. On with the review.
------End Intro
------Storyline:
I wish I could say more about this but I can't due to the fact it's written in Japanese. However, the basis of the storyline is tied in exceptionally well to the way that combat works. There's a king who ruled the land and some bad demon dude decides to get in his base, kill his dudes, the usual deal. To compress a lot of details, the demon let loose the "Nightmare" which turned all of the King's knights into Spirits. You are an awakened Wisp travelling to find out just what happened in the castle. However, you're stopped by numerous monsters and other things on the way. As the Wisp has the ability to temporarily awaken the spirits of the Knights to fight for him (or her). That's as far as I understand from reading different sites.
-----Gameplay:
Now this is where this game shines. If you've played and liked the Touhou games, then you should definitely like this part of the game. In short, you have to kill the enemies while avoiding the enemy fire. Battles are shown on the top screen with you controlling the Wisp via touch pad. Moving the Wisp over a Knight will bring them back to life. They have different ranges and attack types that become key to timing. At the beginning of every fight, you set four items to the side. So far, they're either Key Items or Weapons. To use a weapon, guide the Wisp over the item of choice and put it over the Knight that can use it. You have to guide your Knight in the right direction and hold for maximum range and damage. It sounds simple, but with the amount of things that can go on in the field at the same time (mainly the insane number of fire being aimed at you), it can prove difficult. You also have to collect gems on screen. These 'mana gems' allow you to use the weapons, so, of course, the more you have, the more you can spam your high damaging attacks.
There's also a Law/Chaos switch that, when flipped, changes 'something' in the area. So far, all I have noticed is that the screen shifts Blue/Red and depending on what trigger you're on, your Knights have different ranges. Also, certain weapons can only be used on a certain side. You'll end up switching back and forth from Law and Chaos to use certain weapons when enemies come within a certain range.
So you have mana gems to collect, weapons and items to move around, Knights to select and aim with for them to deal damage, and all while avoiding enemy fire. You can see how this game can become hectic very fast. If you don't, then let me mention the time limit. You get (45-50) 'energy-seconds' to clear a field. I call it that because time doesn't constantly tick away. It only does when you're doing something. Moving around the stage does nothing, but selecting a Knight will drain some. Also, when hit with enemy fire, you'll lose about two seconds of energy-time.
At the end of a round, they give you a letter grade on how well you did. A+ being my current highest (I don't know if they felt like adding A++ or something... I never got it if they did). You select your next opponents via Enemy Slot Machine. Any enemies not killed get added to the slot machine with their remaining health as well as a number of other creatures. To beat a chapter, you have to get a glowing enemy from the slots (called the Reach) and kill it. AFter that, the chapter ends, the Wisp advances as does the rest of the storyline.
-----Extra Stuff:
Apparently there's an entire customization thing where you take the spirit of one Knight, and put it into that of another. This "Trans-Soul" process will destroy the former Knight, but increase the power of the Latter. Apparently this does something with their skills and vitality, but because of the language barrier, I can't really get too deep into it. However, I can say from what I've read elsewhere, that there's over 200 playable characters. Which means, you have a lot of fusion capabilities for your dream team of Knights.
Music: I haven't paid too much attention to this, but I did realize that I was humming it in class two days in a row. They have pretty good music to go with their game.
-----Personal Review:
Maybe it's just me selling myself to the guys that make these games all the time, but I can seriously say that this is one game that you shouldn't definitely get for a DS. It has the fun, colorful, addictive feeling that you look for in good DS Games. When the English version releases, I'm certain that it'll have a story that's as mind-grabbing as the gameplay itself. I have high hopes for this game. A lot of it is banking on how well the story rolls out, but the gameplay has definitely sold me on the idea of buying it when it comes to the states. So, this game is definitely for anyone who has liked the previous Sting games for their innovative gameplay characteristics. For anyone else, check out the Youtube gameplay trailer to see if it's something in your ball park.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWVOCDzTPCo
-----End Review
(Also, this is my first review. Tell me if you liked it, if there's something I left out that you find important, anything. I find reviews to be, if anything, interesting to read and I like hearing about games that no one ever really plays or even hears about. Critiques welcome.
