Frayed Knights (RPG): First Impression

When I played the Frayed Knights pilot back in 2008, I was impressed with the humorous content. Now, nearly three-and-a-half years later, I had the chance to play the release version of the game, titled Frayed Knights: The Skull of S'makh-Daon.

(I had to Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V that title name.)

I have not played the game for long. This post is just my initial thoughts on the game.

Frayed Knights in battle.

Frayed Knights is an old-school RPG where the player plays a party of four bad-luck-magnets out to make a name for themselves as adventurers, and hopefully heroes. The part I like the most about the game is the content - the humor, the tropes, the breaking of the four wall, the unlucky events that happen to the party...

Talking is fun!

I like the character designs too. Clearly, a lot of work had gone into the personalities of the main characters (the party members). I enjoyed reading their interactions with the environment and with each other. And one of the characters is even a cute girl who likes ponies. Now who doesn't like ponies?

So many to choose from, and only 2 points to spend.

The character personalities and initial classes are fixed. However, at level up, the player characters get points to invest into feats to customize the characters. The warrior may be dual-classed with the ability to cast Divine priest spells. Or have feats that deal more physical damage. Or gain defensive feats that increases her (the warrior in the game is a 'lady') defenses and protect the party.

The Ten-Foot Pole is a staple for adventurers, never mind the logistics.

Another interesting game mechanic is the trap system. Unlike the simplified trap disarmament activities of most other RPGs, in Frayed Knights, the player gets to fiddle with the trap components, using a variety of tools. This makes trap-disarming feel a little more realistic. It is still simpler than the real-world red-wire-blue-wire version. Or maybe there will be a red-wire-blue-wire trap later in the game.

Arianna's in trouble. Time to use the Drama Stars.

The unique feature of this game is the Drama Star system. The idea of the Drama Star system is to avoid the need for the player to reload the game and attempt the same puzzle or battle again and again for a better result. As the player plays, Drama Points are awarded. Enough Drama Points will form a Drama Star, which can be exchanged for bonuses. All drama points are lost if the player loads the game. The exception is if the player uses the Continue option in the main menu to load a game that was saved just before quiting.

Because of this, the player is encouraged to play on, even after something bad happens. I lost three party members in an early fight. Normally, I would reload the game. But because I did not want to lose my Drama Points, I decided to soldier on and save myself the frustration.

The effect of this is that the game flows along smoothly. Especially considering the time it takes to load a game. And because the game flows smoothly, the player gets to see more fun parts sooner. Less frustration and more fun for the player's time.

I wonder if there is a Brighten Surroundings spell.

Now the bad. The graphics are not the best there is. Normally, I do not make an issue about the graphics, especially for a game with both good gameplay values and content. However, when I failed to notice that an NPC the party is interacting with is not human until the characters pointed that out, then I know the graphics is a problem.

On the other hand, the bad graphics does make it easier to spot interesting stuff, like loot or traps. Plus, I do like the 2D images of the player characters a lot. Those are good quality images.

This is a minor problem: the game does not like my pen tablet. I am forced to use the backup hardware known as the mouse. My right wrist is going to complain. Should not be a problem for players who are more accustomed to using the mouse.

I've walked lots. Let's see how much of the map I've explored...

Gameplay-wise, I do have a minor nitpick: it takes time to walk from place to place on the overland map. This is not much of an issue in dungeons. However, in towns and in the wilderness, places with wide open spaces, the party walks slowly. Well, maybe they do seem that way because they are doing nothing interesting but walk and I am itching for more excitement.

Finally, the financial one: it costs USD22.95 at the time of writing. This is a pretty steep price for a game with, uh, 'below average' graphics. Yeah, the humor is good and the gameplay, interesting. It has decent replay value to experience the fun all over again with different character growth. But the price! The game can make up for it if it has a decent length. I am still at the beginning, so I cannot tell if the length is worth the price at this stage.

I would recommend trying out the pilot episode (demo) first before buying the game. To make sure that it runs on your computer. And that its humor is to your taste.

I don't remember seeing a spikey-haired head in that dungeon.