Been 2 days since I started playing Spiral Knights, so I figured that I could document my thoughts here.
The game's art is very nice, and the locations are always beautiful to look at when you're not being torn apart by monsters. The monsters themselves, when they aren't reskins with different attributes, are quite unique as well.
When I first stepped into the game, getting out of the tutorials and moving into my first dungeon, I discovered one thing...
This game will PUNISH you if you screw up.
You decide to open that gate that requires 3 energy and leads to an open area? Good luck trying to kill mobs of high-level monsters, especially if you don't have a party with you! Don't have good-enough equipment? You won't be able to take on the lower floors without dying! Think you're prepared to take on that boss? First time through, you'll die. A LOT.
But the beauty about the game is that, while it's difficult, it stays fun.
Figured that I could also try sinking my teeth into two of the game's other aspects as well: the auction house and item crafting.
The auction house is quite full of surprises. You can look for any items that you need, be it crafting ingredients or better equipment, and you're almost guaranteed to find a good deal... when you don't have to deal with overly competitive bidders. You're quite lucky to find an auction with a Short or Very Short timeframe that has a low bidding price, especially with the 3-5 star ranked items. Considering how little certain items drop unless you go lower, though, it's necessary. Speaking of...
The item crafting is quite good, but there's one part of it that I really don't like. Whenever you craft an item, you need to have learned a recipe for it first, and then you need all of the ingredients. Recipes are already costly enough, especially if you're going for a 2-star item (say hello to 1000 crowns minimum in a shop, and kiss your chances of winning one at an auction goodbye), but needing multiple rare drops is just a pain, especially when you can't even get far enough to get those items without risking running out of energy. On top of it all, for each item you craft, you lose 10 energy!
And speaking of energy... their idea of Anti Poop-Socking requires you to wait a whole day to be fully recharged to 100 from 0 so you can do anything! The problem is that damn near everything requires energy! Going into a dungeon requires at most 10 energy! Gates leading to either treasure hoards or high-powered mobs require 3 energy each! Dying multiplies the energy cost for revival by 2 every single time! Crafting, as noted above, costs 10 energy for each item! You could craft 10 items in a single day, and have to wait another whole day just to freaking play the game with them!
In spite of it all, however... I still love this game. Teamwork is fairly easy, people are friendly, and the challenge never gets old.
I'll continue playing, and hopefully I can get some pointers along the way... Your thoughts, tropers?
EDIT: Ended up teaming up with a high-equipment group to take down that tier 1 boss. Was quite happy...
Until I got blocked off from the rest of the group because I didn't have tier 2 access. Turns out that I need 2-star equipment all around.
2-star equipment is expensive for me, and crafting just one 2-star item takes up 50 energy.
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