By Vincent Haoson (Vincenthaoson), OnRPG Journalist
Knight Online welcomes you to the world of Carnac, a land that was once lush and thriving and was a safe haven for all of Logos’ creation. Until a mistake by this world’s creator has spurned a series of cataclysmic events that finally triggered the appearance of evil, death and destruction into this world.
You are a sword in the nation you hold allegiance to. It is your duty to take arms and defend the land that is yours as one of your nation’s knights.
Characters
Knight Online is a world that is dominated by two races: the humans, known as the El Morad and the Orcs that belong to the nation of Karus. The two races have the same jobs. They are warrior, rogue, magician and priest, however these jobs are exclusive to certain classes in the two nations.
If you are the type of player that is used to seeing beautifully rendered characters in an MMO. The characters in Knight Online would make you think twice in spending more time with it.
The game’s characters look blocky and it pales graphically if you compare Knight Online to other F2Ps that are out. The game’s skill sprites is another let down because you can actually see the sprite’s pixels when you use a skill.
In the usual fashion of MMOs, the game is a stat based game. One good thing about Knight Online is that the game provides guides for players to allocate their stats (the game uses a different color for the stats that are important for your character). This is very convenient especially for new players who are not familiar with stat allocation.
The game has eight areas where you can allocate your skill points. The six areas are separated into two types. The first type is your character’s base skills which make up of skills that affect your in-game interaction while the other skill set is for job-related skills.
Allocating points in Knight Online is not really that much of a chore especially with the game not yet implementing the base skills. The incomplete skill set however shows that the game is still under development. This can go both ways for the game because this may mean that the game is still evolving thus providing players a more in the succeeding months, or, the game has reached a point where development has come to a stop.
Looks
The background and landscape of the game is not that visually stunning and lacks the refined feel as most MMOs out. You can see blocks of pixels with the normal resolution of the game, and it does not really help that you raise the resolution of the game because everything looks almost the same as it was on a lower setting.
Gameplay
The game’s looks are not the only thing that feels all too familiar, the game feels and handles like any other MMORPG as well. As you play you feel that your character is one big chunk of pixels, the movements are not that smooth and there are times that the camera angle is an irritation as well.
Knight Online is a grind-fest. Even if you’re able to find out the best place to level your character up it would take you a while before getting a level-up. The game does, however, provide you an alternative if you do not want to waste away killing the same monster from hours till end. Yup, that’s right, buy the premium.
The game does have a decent drop rate. It is not hard for you to get decent equipment on the first hour of your gameplay. This, however, is counter-balanced with the best equipment for your character being a harder feat to achieve if you want to hunt for it.
It remains to be seen however if the game does have enough merit for you to spend your money on it to get about 20% increase in earning experience points with an increase in your drop rates. There are other perks you get upon purchasing the premium membership but these are the two most noticeable.
You cannot really get around the idea that making grinding a task is the game’s indirect way of getting players to pay for better services, but who can blame them? An MMO is a business first and foremost, and they do need money so that they can continue operating.
Now the question is if you are willing to bite the bait Knight Online has put out front.
Community
Knight Online has a very big community. This is the game’s redeeming characteristic. Upon logging in you will see people in flocks in your spawn area. Of course you have the usual players who are AFK and left their characters to vend their wares but you will also see people moving, doing quests and just lounging in-game. Party searching is also a breeze. You do not have to run around shouting “Hey! Do you want to party?” because the game has its own window where you can put you can put your party request and wait for people to respond.
Conclusion
Putting it bluntly, the game does not offer anything new to the genre. What you have is a game that has some bits and pieces of other MMOs all packed into a semi-medieval setting. This is true to a lot of F2P MMOs right now, however they at least provide a certain unique twist unlike Knight Online.
Furthermore, there is still the issue with half the skill set not being available. This may turn off a lot of new players who want their games to be complete when they start with it.
The game is not like most of the MMOs where you enjoy the game once you start playing. Knight Online has to grow on you before you can really enjoy the game. This would mean that you would have to be more patient because you would go through a game that does not really give a good first impression before you actually realize what makes the current players stay in the game.
Pros:
– When the game grows on you, you won’t let it go easily
– There is an in-game balance system so that players can’t spy the opposing nation
– The job exclusivity adds to the overall story telling feel of the game.
Cons:
– Dated graphics engine
– The game does not have a quest window where you can keep track of the quests you need to do
– You would need to spend time with game before you can truly enjoy it.
