Introduction

Knights in the Nighmare is a Nintendo DS game developed by Sting Entertainment and published in North America by Atlus on June 2, 2009. Considered a blend of strategy RPG and bullet hell shooter, the game has notoriety for not only being strange as heck, but extremely complicated…perhaps to a fault. The game has a difficult learning curve; in fact there is a significant level of knowledge you must have just to get through the first battle. As a result, the game asks a lot out of new players. Those that persevere will find that the game is extremely well designed, and once understood, the mechanics make sense within the game and become second nature. Most importantly, the game is fun.

Gameplay involves a setup phase and a battle phase. You set up your guys on a preparation screen by selecting their weapons and which knight class you want to use. Positioning, enemy type, one-chance-to-get items and more dictate your strategy. Once you are ready, the battle phase begins and you spend a round scurrying from enemy fire and commanding your knights with the stylus. The game starts off fairly slow, but before too long, the action gets rather fast paced and nerve wracking.

lol why doesn’t someone just wake them up? The story so far concerns a kingdom in peril. Starting a new game grants us the following information:

The Gleivnir Kingdom is a nation consisting of twelve orders of Knights, and has existed for thousands of years.

Something bad happened. Reeal bad.

Almost everyone is dead.

A thief has taken something very precious from Castle Aventheim, the capitol.

That’s it. The story in this game is presented in both normal cut scenes, and flashback cut scenes that are shown out of order. The plot is fairly dense (I guess Sting wanted a complicated story to go along with their complicated game). I personally don’t understand every nuance of the story, but playing through does provide a good enough gist.

This game is one of the most melancholy, bleak titles I’ve ever played. I would like to preserve that atmosphere during the let’s play, but within reason…no one wants to watch a video that depresses them.

LP format: I have beaten this game twice. I understand most of its mechanics, but a few things still elude me. The playthrough will be somewhat blind as I have forgotten a lot about the plot and specific stages/bosses/what have you.

This game needs to be presented in video. I will be doing the first few videos with live commentary, as I feel it will allow me to efficiently describe what I’m doing and why. The first few videos will, by necessity, have a large amount of information on gameplay mechanics so that the laser light show you watch will have a rhyme and reason. Eventually I would like to shift to post commentary, but only after I think I’ve covered the important details.

To supplement the videos, I will have post entries that will cover the mechanics stuff I’ve gone over, as well as a brief plot synopsis.


This is actually a good time to give a huge thanks to the Sandcastle thread and especially forum user Mastigophoran, who wrote the script I’m using to format the video (I don’t know how the hell it works). In addition, she was also extremely patient with my idiotic questions. We’re talking really stupid questions.

Having said all that, let’s get this ball rolling:




0. Knights in the Nightmare Introduction video
Description of Knight classes in the game
Post regarding the plot of the game
1. Scene 1, Rounds 1 and 2 (covering how to attack, Law/Chaos phases, the time limit, and equipment screen is introduced
2. Scene 1, Round 3 (covering battle winning conditions, magic points
3. Scene 1, Round 4 (covering Knight recruitment, key items, Pause talk)
4. Scene 2 (more info on breaking objects, new class: Hermit, gameplay element: punishing enemies)
5. Scene 3 (new Knight class: Lance Knight. Discussion of movement on the field. Interrupting enemies. Changing an enemy's elemental affinity.)
6. Inventory Management. General gameplay details, too numerous to mention. No story progression.
7. Boss fight! Clash with the Werewolf Jaime. New Knight class: Archer. How not to collect key items.
Forum post on how Height/elevation works on your attacks
8. Scene 5. New Knight class: Duelist. Hiding mechanics.
9. Scene 6: Suspicion in the Air. New Knight class: Wizard
10. Scene 7: Sacrificial Lambs. New Knight class: Priestess
11. Leveling mode.
12. Scene 8: Gathering of the Four.
13. Scene 9: Her Own Purpose.
14. Scene 10: Liberator's Proposal. The Armored Maiden joins us.
15. Scene 11: The Gatekeeper of Doom. Boss fight! Clash with Rivulia the Judgement
16. Scene 12: Whisperer in the Shadows
17. Scene 13: Those Who Seek Ancardia
Bonus Video 1: footage of the Hound enemy's special attack and the animation that plays if you idle on the title screen.
18. Scene 14: Wings of Darkness. Boss fight! Clash with the Fallen Angel Melissa.
Plot recap video 1, covering main characters we've met so far. Featuring a shitty, inaccurate map.
Plot recap video 2, covering the flashbacks we've seen so far, set in chronological order.
Plot recap video 3, covering the present time cutscenes we've seen so far.
19. Scene 15: Fruitless Efforts
20. Scene 16: Knight in Tainted Armor. Boss fight! Clash with the Black Knight Gunther.
21. Scene 17: A Presence Draws Near
22. Scene 18: The Yearning Souls Boss fight! Clash with the Fallen Angel Melissa -- Round 2
23. Scene 19: The Lost Dominion
24. Scene 20: Menace at the Castle Gate Boss Fight! Clash with Beast King Dotaurus (and Garm)
25. Scene 21: Impending Threat
Bonus Video 2: Garm's maul attack and discussing Pamela
26. Scene 22: The Desperate Cardinal Boss Fight! Clash with the Fallen Angel Melissa -- Round 3
27. Scene 23: The Witch's Pawn
28. Scene 23.5: The Guardian of the Chamber Boss Fight! Clash with the Titan Scoppio
29. Scene 24: Assault on the Tomb
30. Scene 25: The Heart Astray Boss Fight! Clash with the Gladiator Leonil
Bonus Video 3: Leonil's attacks
31. Scene 26: The Rise of the Witch
32. Scene 27: A Man with a Lion's HeartBoss Fight! Clash with the Sniper Aquina
33. Scene 28: The Eye of the Battle
34. Scene 29: The Lion and the DragonBoss Fight! Clash with Cardinal Capehorn
Bonus Video 4: More Capehorn fights for funsies
35. Scene 30: Where the Current LeadsBoss Fight! Clash with the Fallen Angel Melissa -- Round 4
Bonus Video 5: Maria
36. Scene 31: Deep into the Night
37. Scene 32: The Accursed Ones
38. Scene 33: The Forsaken Race
39. Scene 34: Descendants of DragonsBoss Fight! Clash with Vilgo the Immortal
40. Scene 35: The Outcasts of OldBoss Fight! Clash with the Witch Vienna
41. Scene 36: In Possession of the Body
42. Scene 37: The Cardinal's Keepsake
43. Scene 38: The Two PursuersBoss Fight! Clash with the Cursed Piche
Bonus Video 6: Alternate fight with Piche
44. Scene 39: Venturing into the Labyrinth
45. Scene 40: Placing of the Seal
Bonus Video 7: Rush Count Requests
46. Scene 41: The Breach of the Sanctuary. Boss Fight! Clash with the Devout Sacchito
47. Scene 42: The Princess' Pride
48. Scene 43: The Witch's Vexation
49. Scene 44: Distant MemoriesBoss Fight! Clash with Princess Alier
50. Scene 45: An Ambition to Transcend All
Bonus Video 8: The Lord of Aventheim Castle
51. Scene 46: The Arbitrator's Destiny Boss Fight! Clash with the Dark King Zolgonark
Bonus Video 9: Zolgonark showcase
52. Scene 47: Law and Chaos Boss Fight! Clash with Melad Margus
52. The Endings
Bonus Video 10: Dept Heaven Episodes Plot Overview