Missions: A Prestigious Opportunity, Minerals Rock!, Monstrous Research (Rank 3-1)

So the three missions, A Prestigious Opportunity, Minerals Rock!, and Monstrous Research are the three easy missions from the total of five Rank 3-1 missions. The other two missions requires energy and using the elevator to play in the Clockworks. So in A Prestigious Opportunity, all you have to do is learn about Prestige Missions. After you complete this mission, you will unlock Prestige Missions in your missions page that you can complete daily.

In the second mission, Minerals Rock!, you will be instantly teleported to the Arcade in Haven. You will talk to the NPC Wagner and learn about collecting minerals throughout the Clockworks and then learn about depositing them after the return to gain the minerals you carried. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure that this minerals collecting thing is only for arcade missions, so I think it's useless to carry minerals during Rank missions.

The last one is another one of those missions where you have to turn in materials in order to complete the mission. You have already completed a similar mission in Rank 2-2 under the exact same name, except you turn in different materials and get different rewards.  In this version, you will be forced to give one Bronze Bolt and one Gel Drop. Check the checkbox above the start button for this mission to confirm you want to give those materials and press start to finish the mission. If you don't have the materials needed, you can either buy it at the Auction House or try to get it while playing in the Clockworks from the Arcade.

Total Reward: 60 prestige, Cold Snap, Heavy Hatchet

It's a Small World After All

From all of the trailers and Wiki that I've read, along with my experience with the game thus far, I feel that the Spiral Knight's world is really small. I know that having a really big world isn't too important for this game because you do all of the fun stuff during missions into the Clockworks. Even in the Clockworks, it's really strange how there are grassy lands underground, and most of the missions don't seem to fit the theme of the Clockworks either. I think it would make the game much better if they would at least allow you to leave Haven (which is impossible to do right now) and maybe even allow you to explore the outskirts of Haven and maybe even have side-missions. For now though, we have to live with the simple and repetitive concept of doing missions (even the missions will probably lose excitement after a while), collecting rewards, crafting weapons and armor, and selling all of the things we don't need. I would really like to hear your thoughts about this so please leave a message below!

Mission: Time to Get Crafty (Rank 2-2)

Right after you finish the Alchemy for Beginners mission, stay in the place that you were teleported to for that mission. If you haven't done so already, open your arsenal and learn your recipes that were rewarded in the last mission, as shown above. Then use your attack button towards the machine thing near you.

The machine allows you to use your recipes to make items. Click on your recipe and then go down and press "Transmute" to create them. You will need to use up 20 energy and around 400 crowns total to make your two items. After you've made both the Frost Gun and Hot Edge, open your missions page to the page for this mission. Click the check-box above the start button and press start to finish the mission.

Rewards: 30 prestige, Hot Edge, Frost Gun

Mission: The Scarlet Fortress (Rank 2-2)

This mission is not the first mission that uses keys, but this mission uses a lot of keys. To start out, you will find yourself a split road after passing through just the first gate. There will be a few rooms with keys where you have to destroy all of the monsters and get the key. Then you will eventually get a place shown in the screenshot below.

There will be two locked gates. You can get two keys to unlock both of them, but if your too lazy to get a second key (which is in the room right below where my character is standing in the photo above), then open the gate on the right side. The gate on the left opens to a room that contains two green blocks that give you crowns and other stuff. Go through the gate and keep on exploring.

Soon after the two locked gates, you may find many energy gates if you take the path on the right when the road splits again. That path is a dead end, but you'll see four or five of these locked rooms with green or pink blocks behind them that give you stuff. Personally, I don't think a few blocks is worth three energy (for each gate), so I recommend you to not open them. Then keep exploring and killing. There is one more gate that requires a key. No bosses, even though the monsters are stronger than the previous missions. After you reach the elevator, go down (never go up!) to get to the second part.

The second part is a lot easier than the first. It is basically just a big room that's divided into sections. Explore the entire place and you will find a few buttons on the floor that opens gates block the elevator. After you open all of the gates, you should be blocked by unbreakable blocks shown above. You have to go to the area below that blockade, and use projectiles to explode the bomb thing. If you don't have a gun, you can throw your items at the bombs, as shown above. After that you reach the elevator and your done.

Rewards: 20 Prestige, Zapper, Rugged Robo Wrecker

Missions: Monstrous Research, Alchemy for Beginners (Rank 2-2))

So these who missions are the two easiest ones compared to the Skies Under Cradle and Scarlet Fortress. So in Monstrous Research, all you have to do is have one Sharp Fang material and one Ecto Drop. You can get these materials by picking them up from killing monsters in the missions before. If you are missing any of the material for the quest, you can go to the auction house and buy it using a few crowns. After you get those materials, open the mission page for this quest, as shown above (the reason why in the screenshot above my start button is locked is because I took it after I completed the mission once). There should be a check-box right above the start button. Click the check-box and then press start to instantly complete the mission.

The second one I'm going to talk about, Alchemy for Beginners, is very easy. All you have to do is have the NPC Bosco explain to you about alchemy and crafting your own weapons. After the conversation, you are done. After you finish, you should receive two recipes which you can find near the bottom of your arsenal. Click on the recipes in your arsenal to learn them, because that is necessary for the next mission.

Total Rewards: 30 prestige, Spiral Scale Helm, Hot Edge Recipe, Frost Gun Recipe

Mission: Skies Under Cradle (Rank 2-2)

Whew, so I just finished this Skies Under Cradle mission, and it takes forever. This is probably the longest and maybe even most boring mission ever, though it gives you a lot of heat to upgrade your gear and crowns. I think this mission is boring because even though there is a lot of monsters, all of them are weak and there is no boss. This mission forces you to explore a really big world (big for a regular mission that is). However, there are lots of new things that didn't exist in previous missions. 

The first new thing is that before you take the elevator down, there used to be items in the area my character is standing above that gives you one extra health. However, starting with this mission, those will be gone and replaced with a vendor, who sells a lot of stuff you can use for the mission. However, everything he sells costs crowns, so I don't think it's worth it.

The next new thing is big crystal chunks in the map. I personally have no idea what they do, but when you attack it, it drops a fragment that you can carry around. I don't think it ever gives you any bonuses and I've tried carrying one of those to the finish elevator and they don't go into your arsenal. If you know what they are for, please white a comment below.

This mission also has a new kind of gate. This gate requires you to give three energy to open. Even though it is not required in the mission to open these gates, they usually give you a good amount of XP or crowns. So behind this gate, there are nine stone cannon monsters that appear, along with healers. Because of the healers, it is very hard to kill any of the cannons with a gun, so I recommend using a sword and just go up to the cannons and slash them. You may die once or twice, but the cannons give quite a lot of XP. Behind the nine cannons you will also find four green and pink blocks that give you stuff. I'm not sure if it's worth three energy, but to defeat all nine cannons is the only challenging and fun part of the mission.

Even though this has never before appeared, a monster that I killed dropped a very rare item. It is called a Mecha Knight Kit. Apparently, when you use the item, it spawns a helper, as shown above. The helper can't ride the elevators with you (I don't mean take the helper to Haven, but because this mission requires you to take the elevator twice, that's how I know).

So the last thing about this mission is that there are lots of plants as shown above, and be sure to attack all of them because they drop crowns and hearts, so destroy all of them. That's pretty much it. The rest of the mission is straight forward exploring until you find the elevator. There are actually two elevators. After you find the first, it leads you down to another level. You can choose to go back to to Haven, but never do that! You will have to redo the entire first part of the mission over. So After you go down the first elevator, keep exploring and you'll find the second elevator. Then you finished the mission.

Missions: Welcome to Haven, Reporting for Duty, Let's Go Shopping!, Pumping Up (Rank 2-1)

Normally, I would have one separate post for each mission, even if they had the same rank, but all of the missions in Rank 2-1 are extremely easy. All you have to do is talk to NPCs, listen to them explain important aspects of the game, and then you're done. The first mission is Welcome to Haven.

So in the conversation with Kora in this mission, you learn about mist energy and crystal energy. This is probably the most important of the four missions in Rank 2-1, because energy is very important. For those who didn't pay attention to the conversation, mist energy regenerates and has a limit of 100. Crystal energy can store as much as you want, but crystal energy costs real money or you can buy 100 with around 8,000 crowns.

This second mission is important, but not the conversation. After this mission, it allows you to do arcade missions, which I haven't tried to see what they are yet.

This third mission teaches you about the Strangers in Haven who can sell you stuff. I think the NPC also tells you some other stuff, but it wasn't important enough for me to remember.

Lastly, you are taken to the Advanced Training Hall. This training place is pretty useful for beginners. It has almost all of the different aspects of missions where you have to explore the Clockworks. This training hall allows you to experiment with all of the different switches that are in the game, as well as all of the items and blocks that you can find in the Clockworks.

Total Reward: 40 prestige, Mining Hat, Iron Buckler, Super Stun Gun

Multiple Missions with the Same Rank

Starting with mission Rank 2-1, there are multiple missions with the same rank. In the Rank 2-1 missions, there are four of them, as shown above. Usually, there are at least one of the missions with the same rank that is very easy to complete and don't require energy, while most of the other missions take just as long or longer than the previous missions that you have completed. You can predict how hard or long a mission is simply by looking at the start button. If there is a button that says "Join a Party" and "Create a Party," then it usually means that that mission will require energy and take time. If not, as shown above, you usually can assume the mission is quick and simple.

Guide to the Auction House

Even though the variety of items in this game is nothing compared to games such as World of Warcraft, but this game's auction house is made quite similar to the one in World of Warcraft and is made quite well. Just like in real life, you have to be smart in order to buy items at very low prices. First off, you should always select the "By Category" bottom at the top left side of the page, then select "Sort (Buy Price)" at the top right corner of the page. Maybe it's just me, but I've never liked that bid price, even though this is an auction house. Bidding crowns instead of buying items at the buy price means you have to wait until the time for the auction runs out before you get the item. Plus, it is highly likely another player bids just one crown higher than your bid and you will not get the item. That is why when you search, I recommend sorting by buy price instead of bid price. Now you can narrow your selection using the categories and search button at the left side of the page, and buy the item that is being sold at the lowest price.

Hot-Keys

Like most other games, there are quite a few hot-keys in this game that allow easier access to your stuff. So below, I'm going to list all of the hot-keys that I know of. If you know more hot-keys, please feel free to leave a comment below!

A, S, D, F = movement

Z = attack (missions only), start conversations with NPC, and others

X = defend

1, 2, 3, 4, = use items (missions only)

I = open arsenal

P = open character profile

L = open loadouts

K = open Supply Depot

M = open missions page

[enter/return] = type in chat/ confirm typed chat message

[esc] = options/ logout

There are probably hot-keys that require a number-pad and footnote keys. Unfortunately, I am using an Apple Macbook Pro, which doesn't include a number-pad and I haven't figured out how to use the function keys...

Completing Missions

After you complete any mission, a screen similar to the one above will pop up. Most missions give you prestige, which is basically like XP in other RPG games. Also, many missions reward you with new armor or weapons, which are found under the REWARDS word, which should look similar to the screenshot above. You should take a longer look at the rewards that you earned, because this is the only notification that you received the weapons and armor. When I started playing, I always thought that weapons would just suddenly pop into my arsenal until I found out they were all quest rewards and I simply missed this notification. As you complete harder missions, the rewards and prestige that you earn become better and better.

Annoying, Annoying Energy

I think that this game makes energy really annoying. In order to start all missions that are fun, you are forced to use 10 energy each time. Today is my first day playing, so I started out with full energy. I completed quite a lot of missions before running out of energy. However, after many hours, I checked back on the game and I barely gained 10 energy! After a little bit of research, I found out that it takes a whole 22 hours to fill back to 100 energy! What this means is that unless you buy energy, you can only play every other day, and you can only complete 10 missions each time you play. Even though I know that this game has to make money somehow, I think that at least you should make the energy regenerate faster (much faster) or make it less important or allow us to use less of it. In the end, there is not much that we players can do, so this annoying energy thing is going to force me to post on this blog about every other day.

Mission: Crossing the Chasm (Rank 1-4)

Right when you start the mission, there will be colored crystals on both sides of you. When you hit a crystal, all of the adjacent crystals of the same color will be destroyed as well. You need to find two buttons within the crystals to open the gate. Keep going and you will reach a fire maze. Hit the first switch to turn of the first fire and enter the maze. You will need a key at the bottom right of the room to open the gate at the top left. Keep on going and you will reach the boss.

The boss is quite annoying because it moves fast and moves a lot, sprays a wide area of fire. Even so this boss wasn't too hard, and I didn't need to use any of the heart blocks to defeat him while I soloed. After you defeat him and keep going, you will eventually ride the elevator up to Haven town.

Rewards: 10 Prestige, Slime Slasher, Beast Basher, Fencing Jacket

Mission: First Contact (Rank 1-3)

This is the easiest mission that I have ever seen. All that you have to do is start the mission, read the conversation, as shown above, and then your done. The Kora person tells you to travel to a town known as Haven.

Rewards: 5 Prestige, Stun Gun, Cyclops Cap

Mission: The Ancient Generator (Rank 1-2)

The Ancient Generator is the first mission where you you can choose to play it with a party of a maximum of four other players. First, the mission starts out quite simply. You follow the path and kill a few enemies. Then, it gets a little bit trickier than before. As shown at the bottom right corner of the screenshot above, there are switches that are on their separate platforms, which you have to shoot with a gun in order to open gates. Then, there is one gate that requires a key. The key is found in the room to the left of the locked gate, and you must destroy all monsters to get to the key.

After you open the locked gate, you will enter a room with a fairly week boss. The easiest way to win is to use a gun and destroy the boss from long range since the boss is slow, powerful, and uses melee. Explode the blocks at the top of the room to continue after you defeat the boss.

As you continue along, there will be a second boss.There will be other minor monsters as well, but ignore them. This boss shoots black orbs in a pattern. It fires orbs in front and behind it, then it fires to both sides of it, then shoots in front and behind it, and so on. The trick is to attack from a side that doesn't shoot, and then move to another side of the boss so that you don't get hit, and attack again. Collected the crowns and heat orbs behind the boss and finish the mission.

Rewards: 10 Prestige, Hatchet, Punch Gun

Leveling Up Your Gear

Every time you collect little orange orbs, all of the gear that you wear and wield will gain XP at the end of the mission and is able to level up. Leveling up your gear allows you to deal more damage, attack quicker, and absorb more damage. However, I believe the maximum level for any of your weapons and armor is level 10. That is why it is better to use a better weapon of a lower level than a weaker weapon that has a higher level, because the better weapon will eventually be stronger when both weapons reach level 10.

Mission: Securing the Camp (Rank 1-1)

So after you enter the Rescue Camp and go forward, you will talk to the NPC (Non-Playable Character) shown at the very left side of the screenshot above (circled in purple). Then you must go talk to the NPC at the very right side of the screenshot above (circled in blue), with the yellow text bubble. After talking with with that second NPC, it will teach you how to start your first mission.

You will then be teleported to an area right next to the Rescue Camp. There you will learn how to use charge attacks. The gates to the north of your starting area will open and you simply have to kill all of the waves of enemy to finish the mission. Follow the NPC back to the Rescue Camp, and you're done!

Rewards: 10 Prestige, Vitasuit, Robo Wrecker

The Crash Site

So right after you finish customizing your character, you start the tutorial-like world. In this tutorial, you do not have health, meaning you cannot die. All of the monsters on this world are quick and easy to kill. There are only platforms and stairs, which lead you all the way to the end, so you can't get lost so long as you don't retrace your steps. There sometimes are bushes blocking your path, but one attack destroys them. Bushes and rocks do not drop anything when they are destroyed, however, the plants that are on the right side of the screenshot above drop hearts and crowns (game's currency). You will not meet any other players here until you get to the next part of the world, which is the Rescue Camp.

Create Three Heros

Similar to World of Warcraft, you can create three different knights. Some people like it, others don't. Personally, I'm both of those people. I used to like games where it is one character per email, such as Runescape, because you are more attached to that character. On the other hand, more characters allow you to experience more aspects of the game. Multiple characters also allows you to delete characters that you don't want any longer, instead of having to create a new email each time. I also learned that according to the little text at the bottom of the screenshot above, it says that the game reboots every 70 minutes. I guess that could get kind of annoying for players who play a lot, but it also helps so that players can take a break and not ruin their health.

A First Look

Well, this is my first steps into this new game, and I can already tell that I'm going to like it. I think the graphics are awesome, especially since it doesn't take up a ton of storage unlike World of Warcraft. I love how there are so many different and cool-looking customizations you can choose from. I made mine look like a samurai since even my name is Pixurai (pixel + samurai). A funny thing is that for the name of your character, you are not allowed to use numbers or spaces, and only the first letter of each world can be capitalized. So when I tried to make the "II" after Pixurai, I had to use lower-case L instead of a capital I. Lastly, I feel that this game is pretty CPU intensive, meaning it uses up a lot of memory, not allowing you to do much of anything else while you play. I had the game open plus only one other webpage, and that webpage took forever to load.

Note: I have created a new character under the name of Mechuri-II (capital I and lower case L)

Second Adventures of a New Game!

For those who don't already know, I already have a blog about the game GoodGame Empire. If you would like to check out that blog, please visit http://pixurai2ggempireblog.blogspot.com/. Anyways, this second game that I am blogging about is a totally different one from my first blog. Spiral Knight is a MMORPG instead of a MMORTS, which is what GoodGame Empire is. Just like the last blog, I'll tell you that I am not doing this blog to make money, I don't even use that Adsense program. I am writing this blog simply because it is what I enjoy doing with my free time (as well as play a ton of video games). Even though I have played many years of other famous MMORPG games such as World of Warcraft and Runescape, this Spiral Knight game seems enjoyable and has quite nice graphics. Well, let's go straight away to adventuring in the new game, Spiral Knight!