Spiral Knights - Rememberance of Paintool Past

Rememberance of Paintool Past

31 replies [Last post]

Mon, 09/07/2015 - 19:12

Paintool

This isn't another get angry at OOO thread.

Just wanted to share some commentary of screenshots from years ago.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=75139898

In the past, low level players could (with invitation of course) roam into the deeper depths of the clockworks at their own risk.
As evidence by the difficulty index indicator glow light that is red, and my 2-3* items, depth 21 was a pain in the butt back then, especially so since it was a bigger party. We don't have difficulty index indicator lights anymore though, maybe in part because of the difficulty selection before missions. But to be honest, I always choose elite, not like it makes a big difference. The old game had an enjoyable risky danger feel.

You could see the exact health of team mates back then, so that was nice. Health reving and heat sharing was all the rage back in the day.

I had 3 mist energy left, so this would be my last session for the day before I played something else. Every level is free now, so guess where I spend more time playing games? Funny how that works out. Elevator passes were only 5 dollars, but you could get by being F2P.

Mon, 09/07/2015 - 19:21

Paintool

SC001

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=79133790

This screenshot was from the first day the new danger mission "Legion of Almire" was released. Everyone was excited to try out the new lore expansion behind the greatest monetary farm that plagues vanguards to this day called FSC. You may not play the danger missions at all today, maybe because they don't pay so well in crowns or radiants and only offer prestige as a reward, but back then for the price of 2 levels and 20 mist energy you statistically came out with more spending money and a challenge that was worth the effort.

I died on the second floor that first day because I didn't know not to step into the upper half of that arena. A rev would cost me another 20 energy, so the debate to finish the floor or start over was a serious thought back then. Do I spend resources to finish this one last measly level, or spend more time starting over? I quit. But I came back the next day, because "Legion of Almire" was the only danger mission, and it was LoA everyday. The danger and no sparks of life always made each journey an adrenaline adventure.

Mon, 09/07/2015 - 19:27

Dibsville

Please keep this going.

Mon, 09/07/2015 - 19:30

Paintool

SC002

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=84479407

This picture doesn't look like much but you have to look at it with a scrutinizing eye. I'm not sure if we still have it or not, but when people stepped on the elevators, a little message saying "waiting on lift" graphic appeared next to their name. It's a nice nifty thing especially if they are far away on the map. I might have been tabbing him too; I forget what the star on the name tab means.

I was having a conversation about the recipe market back then, when people still used Sentenzas as the go to shadow gun. Recipes could fetch between 35K-50K crowns, with an a profit between 10-25K crowns. If you were lucky you could make mega money doing recipe runs in CW, partly because people rarely did it given the choice to run FSC all day. If you did decided to do it though, it was a refreshing experience as opposed to the missions and dreaded FSC fire farm.

Take note at the old circular icons and simple graphic motifs in the HUD. I forgot who made this commentary, but circles in the HUD design gave the game a "round, soft please look" as opposed to the modern day square HD icons that permeates Spiral Knights today as well as other highly successful games... like League of Legends. I thought it was nice that SK took a risk to have a different unique look.

Mon, 09/07/2015 - 19:42

Paintool

SC003

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=87104420

This is a screenshot of the end of my first Shadow Lair run. It was Snarbolax run I did with my friends that day, because Snarbolax set was all the rage back then. Consider the fact that the game ran on limited energy back then, doing Shadow Lairs was a REALLY RARE and REALLY RISKY investment. Only the toughest players who didn't die a lot and waste energy could beat them... if they had a good party and teammates too. I did it 4* gear. Back then, Shadow Lairs were rite of passage. if you beat them, you could craft the rare exclusive armors. You're skill and effort showed. Not like these days where luck reigns supreme... "cough mixmaster sweetdreams celestial saber cough"

And oh was it good. After I got my first taste of Shadow Lair, I just had to do the rest. This part of the game was super hard back then, you had to plan and organize dates on the calendar. Getting those lore items, those other rare items... It was nice to be seen as a vanguard who was skilled enough to do all the SL's. Although it's nice SL's have lots of radiants these days, to go there so often to acquire something that was meant to be trivial really puts to shame the mystery and danger and loss of money that was the SL.

If things got too expensive back then, you had to quit and learn your mistakes. We have it really easy in comparison today. Not that it's bad, but I miss living on the edge.

Mon, 09/07/2015 - 19:53

Paintool

SC004

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=87145300

Once upon a time, I soloed FSC by myself wearing only my proto weapons and my proto armor set. When I got bored of doing FSC for monetary gain, I set out to do the unthinkable. I have 75 energy left in this picture, but I'm on the fourth floor. That means I spent 40 energy, but regained 15 energy over time. To recover that much energy means I spent 3.3 hours through hell with only proto weapons and sheer skill. I started off using my sword because it had the highest DPS per single enemy to get rid of one slag, but later switched to proto bomb because I could multi DPS enemies and stun them while keeping them away. Proto gun was less useful.

Every vial or health capsule or remedy was a God send. One heart was the difference between life and death. No emergency revives, no sparks, no elevator pass, this was hardcore Spiral Knights to the max. In fact, I didn't get passed the second arena on the 4th floor and had to quit after dying twice in the second arena. To this day I've not attempted to finish this challenge, but I remember that day...

You could spark rev and try to kill everything today, but it's just not the same without worrying about losing money.

Mon, 09/07/2015 - 20:05

Paintool

SC005

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=89838892

This may have been sometime after C42 was released. Since LoA was the only danger mission for a while, when C42 came out I was stoked; lots of players with open parties. And then the day after not so much. It was definitely dangerous this time! I didn't have my poison max Vog Set yet, so walking anywhere was guaranteed death, because slimes like to spawn, jump, and make a huge mess and burst on fire for no reason sometimes. It was fun, but it was a pain in the butt. Also nobody had no idea who Herex was back then; we thought it was just some name they reused after Seerus said to try and keep lore consistent.

I was carrying some noobs on this run, because I liked being wanted and seen as superior. I believe I got a couple of free revives because they believed in me. It was a nice feeling not having to pay for yourself. We never finished the mission, but it's funny how I miss being complained at by noobs who couldn't afford to rev themselves but chose me instead to carry them. Another thing I'll miss after introduction of sparks, but there's no going back and it's probably for the better.

Mon, 09/07/2015 - 20:16

Paintool

SC006

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=90429550

This is probably the first time I got to see a Darkfang Shield. I knew it was rare, and heard rumors that since 2011 (taken Aug 2012) only 4-6 existed. It was beyond the scope of acquisition and I resigned myself as one of those people who would never own one. Not sure if Kuger still plays the game anymore, but would have been nice to own one. Price tags around the time I think were 200K CE/ or the rough equivalent of 200$. Not even Njthug could want it that badly. Rumors were so believable people would actually use minerals to try and craft Stratum 6 gremlin gates to attempt to farm item drops in the hopes of getting the next Darkfang Shield. All have failed. And now you can't even do that anymore because gates are chosen at random.

I really felt OOO dropped the ball when they released the Gremlin Prize box with gremlin costumes and 1% gun puppies, but no darkfang shields to complete the costume set. Perfect oppurtunity to cash in on years of denied players. And what harm would selling a 4* owlite reskin be? It's not like players are trading these 8 or so shields for hundreds of dollars everyday for OOO to cut in on the profits. I mean they already released a shield reskin in the Dangerous Prize box, so they could have done that her too. Just saying.

Also there's a player from "The Jempire" guild that used to be popular on SK. You don't see those guys anymore! Probably more rare than a Darkfang Shield by now.

Mon, 09/07/2015 - 20:33

Paintool

SC007

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=102766580

Once upon a time, I found a Darkfang Gremlin Thwacker who didn't want to fight. This was typical behavior for cowardly scorchers, but almost unheard of in aggressive Thwackers. I even had time to casually sit down with him. Why didn't he want to fight? I was right there in front of him; he could have just as easily charge attack me to oblivion. Perhaps not all gremlins agree with their form of government even among their fighting ranks. I don't know if this gremlin is still alive, I didn't even get his name. He was quiet and shy and scarcely said anything. But as far as passive enemies go, it was a treat to spend time with odd company.

If Love Puppies have taught me anything, it's that love can be found even in the oddest of coding.

Mon, 09/07/2015 - 20:55

Traevelliath

I know this is completely unrelated, but while we're stroking the flame of nostalgia...

In SC006, there are two people belonging to two different guilds off to the right: TAO and Jempire. My god those guilds have so much nostalgia value for me. I can't even describe the strange mixture of emotions running through me right now. I'm genuinely on the verge of tears.

Plz more

Mon, 09/07/2015 - 20:54

#10

Fehzor

Paintool farms remembers. And so do I, actually. I used to take pictures just like this.

The old radiant sun shards, brought lovingly to Vanaduke- http://i.imgur.com/qReb7sB.jpg

Zeddy and I pretending like "Guardian" is a valid class to see how knights react- http://i.imgur.com/aW0zKIR.jpg

Mon, 09/07/2015 - 22:42

#11

Hexzyle

@Paintool
In the past, low level players could (with invitation of course) roam into the deeper depths of the clockworks at their own risk.

This is still possible. All that was changed was a ninja patch a year or two ago which prevents players from joining Arcade runs which they do not have the tier clearance for without an invite.

I'm not sure if we still have it or not, but when people stepped on the elevators, a little message saying "waiting on lift" graphic appeared next to their name

We don't. I wish we did. It was quite useful.

This thread was a blast from the past. Thanks for sharing, took me back.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 05:32

#12

Exiled-Gremlin

@Paintool

Nice screenshots, I always wondered how SK looked 3-4 years ago. What a pity, I had an account nicknamed Paindrain and didn't even get to Novice Camp... Thanks for this topic, I like both descriptions and images.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 14:19

#13

Paintool

SC008

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=117249262

One day I found two item drops in the same room. This is a extremely rare statistical possibility that somehow came true.
I think item drops were more common back during the old game, not that it means anything. They were still very rare considering the daily mist limitations. My friend and I each got one, but we traded it for the other. I've not found any item drops in the years since the game changed, but I assume they are made exponentially more rare to account for OOO's assumption that everyone would be playing more often. In reality I play just as often as I used to or less.

Item drops were scarcely useful, even though they were item drops. They operated on the same rarity as materials depending on stratum, so it was common to get low star gear that you wouldn't use anymore. It was still a pleasant surprise.

Fri, 09/11/2015 - 14:46

#14

Paintool

SC009

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=119763436

Another journey into the fiendish city ruins revealed a startling encounter. Like the friendly gremlin Thwacker, I found an orphaned Yesman devilite without a Pit boss. The yesman would follow me around the level without any qualms. I even tried pushing him around to evoke a reaction, but it must be in there obedient nature to take rough commands lightly.

Again I wonder what has become of the fate of the passive enemies after I leave their company.

Wed, 09/09/2015 - 07:29

#15

Dahall

Feels like looking at my family album; Happiness followed by deep sadness.

Wed, 09/09/2015 - 16:31

#16

Hershey-Kiss

http://steamcommunity.com/sha

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=159112479
before the forge and after the update where they changed how the screen looked

Wed, 09/09/2015 - 18:36

#17

Agentz

BLARGH

Ah yes.
I should see if I have any pre-steam screenshots.
Will post some soon. ~Z

Wed, 09/09/2015 - 18:55

#18

Agentz

BLARGH

Remember the old UI? I loved all the icons and such. Still miss those. http://imgur.com/gallery/6EIGnOt/new ~Z

Wed, 09/09/2015 - 19:27

#19

Agentz

BLARGH

Fun in haven :3 http://imgur.com/gallery/88M6EdT/new I have either lost all my pre-steam screenshots or didn't even know how to take screenshots then (lol), so I'm sorry for not being able to post those. I think I used to have some screenshots of the original rescue camp, when I joined 2 weeks after release. *nostalgia intensifies* ~Z

Wed, 09/09/2015 - 21:22

#20

Agentz

BLARGH

/salute http://imgur.com/gallery/7kqUURI/new ~Z

Thu, 09/10/2015 - 09:44

#21

Crazee-Pi-Forum

Remember, don't shoot food.

I'm tempted now to post a thread full of screenshots about the current state of SK and call myself the ghost of Spiral Knights present.

Though now that I post this I probably won't.

I also wanted to put a joke about prismatic bolted vees in this post, but I have no idea what to say.

Thu, 09/10/2015 - 18:42

#22

Falminar

@AgentZ

Why did you publish those? We can see the images without publishing the images to everyone else on Imgur.

Fri, 09/11/2015 - 14:51

#23

Paintool

SC010

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=136371502

There was a time when knights could drop items because we had hands that could let go of things. It was an amazing feature I thought. If I wanted to trade items with someone else in my party, I could do that. If I wanted to drop a Vitapod for someone who just joined my party, I could do that. If I wanted to make a nice silly mess for time to remember me by, I could do that to.

I wasn't sure if there was an exploit or game breaking bug related to this, but I was sorely disappointed when the feature was revoked. I felt like I was being told, "this is how you MUST play the game, BY OUR RULES. NO FUN ALLOWED!" You couldn't strategize and carry health caps with you anymore. You couldn't carry useful items or vials to other areas because of item emancipation grills. The game felt more like a solo effort, and it had lost one of the nuances that made Spiral Knights "SPIRAL KNIGHTS".

Fri, 09/11/2015 - 15:01

#24

Paintool

SC011

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=205654413
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=205654460
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=205654506

One day, I was exploring Gloaming Wildwoods with Njthug and some other EoS crew. It started out normal enough, grinding T1 boss for tokens, but then something happened. As I was opening the monster crates on the second floor, one of them was empty. I thought nothing of it at the time, and I left the room. But then as I made my way back to the center lobby, I was ghost recon marked... Somehow one of the ghostmane stalkers had found their way into this part of the game.

I had to theories regarding this unusual encounter. A: This must be an advancement of gremlin forces to spy on areas we typically farm. Or B: this must be how Gremlins who disobey the Crimson Order are punished, by stuffing them into boxes and crates and shipping them to random locations around Cradle. Their violent behavior upon releasing them from their prison must be desperate hope to kill knights to try and reclaim their position in the colony. But a ghostmane stalker to be punished in such a way? What strange punishment it is indeed.

Fri, 09/11/2015 - 15:09

#25

Paintool

SC012

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=226575557

Before artillery drops and auto turrets, the only special drops were mecha knights. As a result it was possible to allocate more of them through out the entire depths of clockworks runs. As far as I know, I'm the only person who has been able to get a team to activate 7 mecha knights into one space; they are my personal army. Although sometimes I like to think of them as rescuing prisoners akin to Metal Slug. I don't activate them until the end of runs, because by T2 and T3 they become weak and mortal distractions that would die instantly if not for my saving them.

Sometimes I think there should be T2 and T3 versions of Mecha knights, if not for the novelty, then to balance how vials, pills, and health caps have 3 tiers. They were meant to be bodyguards. It's only proper to let them be so.

Fri, 09/11/2015 - 15:18

#26

Fangel

Somewhat actually

I wasn't sure if there was an exploit or game breaking bug related to this, but I was sorely disappointed when the feature was revoked
Vitapod one was removed, from what I remember, because you could drop and pick up your vitapod in a margel fight to heal due to vitapods filling themselves in subtowns.

Dropping consumables was removed when battle sprites were introduced due to items being instanced. There were now 4 times the items being dropped, so that's x4 the health capsules. Understandable balance wise, sorta saddening teamwork wise.

Sun, 09/13/2015 - 11:20

#27

Thunder-The-Bright

algorithms are the solutions to any problem.

I have some screenshots of various things I have encountered in the past. I'll start digging.

this is what happens when you leave the fight with arkus after he's dead. he gets up and starts slowly walking towards something. I did it because I wanted to listen to the track that plays after defeating arkus, and since I was in a party I had to go solo. it was a fun discovery.

remember when this was unintentionally in the arcade? I do. nice athosphere, and the level design was actually different. some old timers have stories of when this was intentionally in the arcade?

once qwez was bored and had a lot of time on his hands. this happened. it was great. how many times did you see that?

when I was still a lowly 4* knight, I had some of my friends and guildmates to bring me to FSC. I couldn't do much, since my weapons were a 4* pulsar and a vile striker, so in the meantime I found the time to sleep.

and to top it off, this is my only item drop from the game. I dropped a jelly shield once, but my teammate got that. it was at the end of a JK run.

Sun, 09/13/2015 - 13:07

#28

Dibsville

I felt like spilling some random feelings into a post...

...so I chose this thread.

It's a shame I wiped my computer and lost all my old screenshots-- when sorted by date, this is my oldest screenshot, which is actually pretty recent although I've come a long way since then. I was heating my hood to make Divine Veil, my Drakon wasn't even max level yet, and I was using Winmillion because I had just gotten it. It's a shame because this picture was taken in February of 2014.

Over the years I've only gotten one item drop, a 3* Horned Owlite Shield from the bottom left box of D27 FSC, which I lovingly made in to my first 5* shield and to this day is still my only level 10 5* shield. I'm kind of bummed out that I never really use it these days besides in Ghosts in the Machine and the Ironclaw Munitions Factory, but as a newbie this was the shield I wanted because it looked so cool, and even to this day it's easily my favorite shield just from the way it looks, not even to mention how great its defenses still are. Sometimes I wonder where all the Grey Owlite clones went... they used to be everywhere but these days all I see is Swiftstrike Buckler and the occasional random reskin.

Wish they'd bring back the difficulty marker by the minimap... even if there's restrictions on how far you can go, it was always reassuring going into a new area and seeing that green or yellow dot as a friendly reminder like "Hey, you got this!", or seeing that red or purple dot and knowing it would be a tough run, if not impossible. It was just one of those small things....

Mon, 09/14/2015 - 02:00

#29

Oski-Boski

I still remember those days

I still remember those days ;-;
So much fun...

Tue, 09/15/2015 - 14:29

#30

Chapiy

nostalgia

Bob, Leroy, and Alice

Tue, 09/15/2015 - 17:56

#31

Wqkipedia

http://steamcommunity.com/pro

http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198025231186/screenshots/

^Screenshot of the old UI in the ATH. This was the first time I had ever taken a screenshot on steam. I was just so proud of the antigua I had grinded from the Royal Jelly. That same Antigua I crafted into a blackhawk before I took a very long break. It now resides in my arsenal as an Obsidian Carbine.

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Rememberance of Paintool Past