Retroview - Knights in the Nightmare (DS)

Official Site: http://www.atlus.com/knights/
Source: Youtube Channel AtlusUSA

I had finally finished playing Knights in the Nightmare sometime last year.  I played it off and on for three years and finally completed it.  Sting Entertainment is known for making very unique games with all the mechanics and gameplay a bit more different from its usual genre and familiarity.  Before Knights in the Nightmare, I have tried Riviera: The Promised Land and Yggdra Union: We'll Never Fight Alone.  One resembles a turn-based RPG while the other was like a Tactics-RPG.  Knights in the Nightmare, on the other hand, is a little harder to describe.  It looks like a Tactics game, with Action-RPG elements, and some bullet-hell.  The player takes the role of a wisp which can command soldiers throughout each map.  The game is seemingly complicated where the tutorial takes up to 2-3 hours to complete; however, the actual game isn't too bad at all.  The player commands each soldier in real-time to attack enemies throughout each map while collecting items, dodging enemy bullets, and switching between LAW/CHAOS phases.  Overall, the graphics were beautiful and highly detailed, the music was pretty good, and the gameplay was between fun/satisfying and a little repetitive/boring.  The story is just as convoluted as the game's mechanics.  I commend Sting Entertainment for always innovating gaming genres and having a lot of content in their games, but it often times scare off most gamers with its overwhelming presence.  With such ambitious design choices for Knights in the Nightmare, I've always wondered what Sting Entertainment was going to do next.  They have made 3 new PSP games since then (not counting ports of their previous games) and so I guess they've been keeping busy.  If you want complex and innovative RPGs, look for games developed by Sting Entertainment.  I heard Baroque is an innovative Action-RPG, Rogue-like that some people liked.  Many others didn't like it because of how unforgiving or confusing the game was.  Guess I should check out more of their games too.