Having an abusive prodigy Marsh Witch for a master sounds like it could be pretty rough, but that doesn’t stop the Hundred Knights from completing their (his?) tasks. Here’s a look at what you’ll be doing to please Metallica in Nippon Ichi Software’s The Witch and the Hundred Knights.
Metallica has two main objectives. One is to defeat the ugly Forest Witch, and the other is to make magical tree-like objects scattered around the world, called Pillars of Temperance, bloom . Doing so will turn their surroundings into marshlands that give Metallica more power. However, doing so won’t be a simple task, as there are many monsters that heavily guard the pillars.
Not only will you have to look out for monsters, but you’ll also have to be on the lookout for various traps found in the forests.
Even the Hundred Knights will have to rest at times. There are places that act as a home base for our little hero and also villages to scavenge.
The controls of The Witch and the Hundred Knights are pretty simple, so even those that aren’t the best at action games can still find their way around forests without dying all the time. In addition to that, there’s a feature where you won’t get a game over no matter how much damage you take. Nippon Ichi say that there are also plenty of underlying technical aspects to the game, so those that would rather have a good challenge are covered, too.
The “Tactical Conversion” system allows the Hundred Knights to equip up to five weapons at a time, that can be used to do five-stage combos. The type of weapons used in this system will be up to you, making it possible to come up with your own combos with different weapons.
Here’s a look at some of the weapons:
Sword
The sword is a pretty simple melee-type weapon with good range and attack speed.
Mallet
The blunt mallet has a shorter range compared to the sword, but makes up for it with heavy damage from its “Blow” attacks and high critical hit-rate, which can also be used to stun enemies.
Spear
The spear has the longest reach and can do strong pin-pointed accurate strikes. However, its attacks are quite narrow.
The Hundred Knights has thee different types of attacks he uses. They are Slash, Blow and Magic. Enemies will always have a weakness to one of these attack types, so knowing which attacks to use against certain enemies to do very effective attacks, will make things easier during your adventure.
There are also sub-action abilities that can be used to help out in different situations. The Mystical Dodge ability will make you invulnerable for a short period, while slowing down time. This can be used as a way to gain distance from your enemies when you’re in a pinch.
The Extra Chain ability is a more offensive one, that can be used the moment you defeat an enemy. Once it’s activated, the Hundred Knights will move with ultra-speed and hit the nearest enemy. If you can manage to defeat the enemy with that hit, it’ll be possible to continue chaining, which will also increase the damage of the next hit.
When the Hundred Knights is away from Metallica, he gets hungry over time. The Giga Calorie meter is used to gauge the hunger. Once it hits 0, he will no longer be able to perform any actions and will return to the home base. Certain actions will deplete his hunger faster, so it’ll be crucial to balance it out while you’re out there.
There’s a special ability that isn’t always available to the Hundred Knights, called “Chaos Revelation”. It greatly reduces the Giga Calorie meter and finishes once it’s completely depleted. In return, it will grant a huge boost of power for the duration. This ability will be best used against bosses and other formidable foes.
All enemy drops will be stored in the Hundred Knight’s belly. They can be acquired once you clear the stage, in addition to any bonuses you may have found on the field.
Above is sneak peek at a little something Nippon Ichi Software will be revealing soon. There seems to be some sort of appearance change going on here with the Hundred Knights…
The Witch and the Hundred Knights is slated to be released on July 25th in Japan in regular and limited editions, for PlayStation 3.
