Spiral Knights - My review of Spiral Knights.

My review of Spiral Knights.

13 replies [Last post]

Fri, 06/17/2011 - 23:51

Zardica

Legacy Username

TL;DR Warning!!

Spiral Knights is an amazing game, a revolution in MMORPGs in it's own right, it's cute, it's casual, it's easy. There are no complicated skill trees, no large confusing maps, the game is designed to make it quick and easy to find some friends and get into the action. While normally a game like this would consume most of my life, I can't bring myself to play the game for very long, litterally, after your energy runs out you can't play the game. It just becomes a big 3D chatroom, like a chibi Second Life. Spiral Knights reminds me of a facebook game, you know, the one that lets you play for an hour or two and then makes you wait till tommorow to play again, while this is a great way to get your customer to keep coming back to your game, it also becomes annoying if you really enjoy playing the game.

My last gripe with the game is the Arcade, while the idea is great on paper, in practice it all falls apart. While it's great to have players create there own dungeons, to keep things fresh and new, the system fails to do that, most dungeons are the same level repeated, i've played in a dungeon were the first four floors were the EXACT same level. Having hundreds of players constantly spamming minerals into a gate to get crowns means that gates aren't really player created, there just random. You can't organize hundreds of people, there's always going to be a handful of people who don't listen.

All that aside, Spiral Knights is probably the first "causal" MMORPG iv'e seen in my life, I'm sure I show this game to anyone and they could pick up on it very quickly, it's a great game that removes the stress of most major RPGs, no hotkeys to memorize, no stat points. To a guy like me who can easily become overwhelmed by those kind of things, this game is a nice relief. Did I mention it's really cute?

Sat, 06/18/2011 - 00:01

Sunless

any armor above that is

any armor above that is higher than 2 or 3 stars requires an amount of energy that no normal playing could achive without paying for it

Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. You're wrong. You're wrong. You're wroooooooong.

Sat, 06/18/2011 - 00:16

Zardica

Legacy Username

800 Energy? For one item? You

800 Energy? For one item? You can't even get more than 100 without buying more energy.

EDIT: I do stand corrected, most players can craft a 2 star item without playing for extra energy. I will edit my review accordingly.

Sat, 06/18/2011 - 00:28

Madadder

uhh i have yet use real money

uhh i have yet use real money yet i have a 5* weapon THAT I CRAFTED

you can use Crowns (the ingame currency) to purchase 100 units of energy from players that paid with real money

Sat, 06/18/2011 - 01:31

Majikos

Easier than it appears.

It is possible to buy enough CE with Crowns to get to 5*, it just takes a lot longer than forking out the cash to buy CE directly. Additionally, it's possible (at the moment at least) to spend your 100 ME on Clockworks runs to earn Crowns, and then buy another 100 CE with those funds with a bit of profit left over. Not dying is a big part of it, though - maybe team up with other players so you can revive one another, rather than spending precious Energy on revives?

Sat, 06/18/2011 - 01:46

Zardica

Legacy Username

You have all found a fatal

You have all found a fatal flaw in my review, I will remove my comments on energy entirely.

Sat, 06/18/2011 - 02:32

Menilos

Legacy Username

Nice to see

First of all, it's nice to see someone on here who doesn't keep an argument going for 17 pages just for the sake of it.
Second, welcome.

As people have said reference energy usage, there were a couple of threads started on here about testing to see how far you can get on a free account. Bear in mind this was when energy was at 7k for 100. Have a look see as they also contain tips on how to make your energy go further.

http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/10737

http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/11105

Also reference gate creation, it is possible.

http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/10565

Sat, 06/18/2011 - 13:08

Fauxanadu

Legacy Username

It's discouraging at first,

It's discouraging at first, but especially with energy prices where they are, there is gameplay (and profit) to be had in abundance.

I joined within the first week or so after launch, when CE prices were even lower than they are now, and while I have had some advantages new players don't (I sold 2 DAs, which new players can't do, and crafting prices used to be lower), there are some new changes that benefit players starting out now (lower recipe prices for instance).

I've logged over 12 days in game (although I tend to leave the game running and watch tv a fair amount) which is probably more time than more casual gamers can spare, I don't think it is ludicrous.

Just to show you not to lose faith early on, here's what I have amassed without opening my wallet:
*Deep breath*
Divine Avenger
Final Flourish
Acheron
Gran Faust
Leviathan Blade
Dread Venom Striker
Fang of Vog
Vog Cub Cap
Vog Cub Coat
Grey Owlite Shield
Nameless Hat
Nameless Poncho
Argent Peacemaker
Hail Driver
(a couple 4 star things I'm working on like Snarble barb, mega magnus, miracle cloak, and the fire/freeze versions of haze bomb line)
97k CR
13k CE (to be fair, most of the CE has come from selling mats since the prices have risen with the increase in players.)

Sat, 06/18/2011 - 03:15

Sanzenin

tell me you meant 12 days,

tell me you meant 12 days, not hours

Sat, 06/18/2011 - 03:28

Madadder

12 in game hours...

Sat, 06/18/2011 - 03:40

#10

Pawn

Yeah

He meant 12 days. Even with heat amplifiers you couldn't level that equipment to 4* lvl 10 in 12 hours!!! haha

Sat, 06/18/2011 - 08:08

#11

opaopa13

Legacy Username

It is a bit of a sore point

It is a bit of a sore point that, very early on, it can be possible to end up with no crowns and no Energy and be forced to either stop playing or buy Energy. On the other hand, that quickly goes away -- a T2 run can easily let you convert 70 energy to 6000 crowns (more, depending on how many Arenas / Danger Rooms / Graveyards you hit), which means you can always use the profits of your last run to finance your next run with plenty left over.

Really, there's a very strong incentive to drop $2.45 early on and use the energy to get into gear that lets you start doing reviveless T1 runs and maybe-a-revive-or-two T2 runs. But is there really a problem with that? I think it should be pretty clearly after a run or two whether or not Spiral Knights is going to be worth $2.45 or not.

Sat, 06/18/2011 - 13:07

#12

Fauxanadu

Legacy Username

Sorry, yeah 12 days, not

Sorry, yeah 12 days, not hours.

Sat, 06/18/2011 - 15:23

#13

Richy

You can play this game for free

I have made almost 10 five star items without spending a dime on this game. Whoever thinks you can't make more than 2 or 3 star items playing free just hasn't thought enough. Sure I don't play a lot and it took me almost 5 days to get one five star item, but it just made it more worth it.

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My review of Spiral Knights.