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Knight Online

Knight Online (aka USKO) is an old school point-and-click fantasy MMORPG set in the world of Carnac with two warring nations, El Morad and Karus. The game has a huge playerbase and an emphasis on PvP.

Publisher: NTTGame
Playerbase: High
Type: MMORPG
Release Date: August 17, 2004 (NA)
PvP: Duels, Siege War, Faction War, Battlefield
Pros: +Varied PvP options. +Huge community. +Regular events.
Cons: -Dated visuals/interface. -Poor English translations. -Almost no appearance customization.

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Overview

Knight Online Overview

Knight Online is an older fantasy MMORPG set in the world of Carnac where two kingdoms, the El Moard (Humans) and  Karus (Orcs), constantly wage war. Players are limited to one faction per server and each faction has their own set of races and a shared pool of classes. Knight Online was one of the first incredibly popular free-to-play MMORPGs and has since maintained its strong position in the market. The game has an enormous playerbase across nearly a dozen servers, all of which are packed with players. Players start by selecting from one of five playable classes and move into a more advanced job upon reaching Level 10. A second job advancement is available at Level 60. The game has a lot of PvE content, but PvP is the main draw.

Knight Online Key Features:

  • Class and Race variety – play as one of six classes (Warrior, Rogue, Magician, Priest, Kurian, and Portu). Job advancements at Levels 10 and 60.
  • PvP-Focused Gameplay – strong emphasis on PvP with Duels, Lunar Wars, Castle Sieges, and Battlefields.
  • PvP Rewards – players earn National Points and Leader Points for participating in PvP. Top players each month are rewarded premium currency.
  • Huge Playerbase – despite its age, Knight Online has numerous servers, all of which are packed with players.
  • Extensive Item Upgrading - equipment can be upgraded to enhance stats.

Knight Online Screenshots

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Knight Online Featured Video

Knight Online Gameplay Montage

Classes

Knight Online Classes

Job advancements are available at Level 10 and 60. The job advancements have different names for each faction, but are largely the same class.

  • Warrior  Warriors are the typical melee characters in Knight Online. They specialize in the use of heavy armor and melee weapons. They advance to become Berserkers/Berserker Heroes on Karus and Blade/Blade Masters on El Morad.
  • Rogue – high DPS characters with less armor than Warriors. They advance to become Hunters/Shadow Bane on Karus and Ranger/Kasar Hood on El Morad.
  • Magician – the typical offensive spellcaster role. Magicians are fragile, but can deal immense damage to their enemies from a distance. They advance to become Mages/Ark Mages on both Karus and El Morad.
  • Priest – the supportive spellcaster role. Priests advance to become Shamans/Shadow Knights on Karus and Clerics/Paladins on El Morad.
  • Kurian (Karus Only)  brutish melee characters with high damage and defense. They advance to become Daphne/Daphne Heroes.
  • Portu (El Morad only) – similar to Kurians, Portus are a tanky melee class. They advance to become Burkas/Burka Masters.

Full Review

Knight Online Review

By Omer Altay

Knight Online is an older Korean MMORPG originally released back in mid-2003. It made its way to the international scene on August 17, 2004 with the launch of USKO (U.S. Knight Online). The game used to be published by GamersFirst internationally, but since they lost the license, NTTGame began servicing Knight Online. The current version of the game on NTTGame is accessible world-wide with few IP restrictions. The game's premise is a fantasy world with two warring nations – the Humans (El Morad) and the Orcs, called Tuareks (Karus).

First Impressions

After downloading and installing Knight Online, I was disappointed to learn that the game's graphic options are quite limited, as the client doesn't support 1920x1080 resolution. After logging in for the first time and selecting a server, it was a pleasant surprise to see ten servers in the game, all of which were packed and at near full capacity. It's not surprising to see older MMORPGs that remain incredibly popular today. Just look at games like Silkroad Online from Joymax or Tibia. Seeing packed servers is definitely a good sign, because it means that despite its age, Knight Online has kept players constantly coming back for more.

Character Creation

Upon selecting a server, players are prompted to choose their faction El Morad or Karus. Unlike World of Warcraft, players cannot create characters on both factions. They must pick one and stick with it (or just create a second account). Both factions have access to the same four classes (Warrior, Rogue, Mage, and Priest), but a special faction-specific fifth class (Portu for El Morad and Kurian for Karus). Five classes may not seem like much, but each class advances into a stronger version of their class upon reaching Level 10 and again at Level 60. There are no branching paths though. All magicians become Mages at Level 10 and Ark Mages at Level 60.

The World of Knight Online

After creating a character, players are thrown into the world of Knight Online. New players start in Moradon, which is incredibly packed with players. Mostly people AFK trying to sell their wares to other players in the form of player shops/stalls. With such a large playerbase, trying to find items to purchase amongst the hundreds of player shops can be incredibly difficult. Knight Online is a game that would strongly benefit from the implementation of an auction house. I know Onigiri Online and MapleStory also have player stall systems, but neither of those games are as packed as Knight Online.

Players can navigate the world of Knight Online with point-and-click movement. WASD controls are available as well, but they're incredibly clunky and impracticable to use. Like most old school free-to-play MMORPGs, Knight Online is quite grindy. The game does have some quests, but straight-up grinding is the primary means to gain experience. Players start off with decent gear (+3 armor set and a +3 weapon) which makes leveling early on incredibly easy. The early experience is made even easier by the presence of a buff NPC right outside of the starting town. Players can get free defense, movement, and attack buffs simply by speaking to this NPC. These buffs are super strong early on and make the entire early game grinding feel extremely easy. These buffs are free until Level 35, but even with them, the gameplay feels very slow-paced. Combat feels visceral, but skills on melee characters feel unrewarding and weak, at least early on. Make sure to loot coins from every slain monster, as in-game money is useful in the beginning and can be used to purchase potions.

Progression in Knight Online is fairly straight forward. Between Levels 1-60, players gain three stat points to distribute into one of five stats (STR, HP, DEX, MP, and INT) and two skill points. From Levels 61-83, players begin gaining five stat points per level instead of three. Players can also advance their characters by unlocking and equipping various titles in the game. Titles can be unlocked by completing various tasks like defeating a hundred of one enemy or killing a few bosses. Each title grants different bonuses, with the more difficult to achieve titles granting the biggest bonuses. These have a material impact on the game, so they're worth researching and unlocking.

PvP – Knight Online's Bread & Butter

Knight Online's biggest draw is its varied PvP options. Players can duel each other nearly anywhere in the game world and can participate in various large-scale PvP battles.

Castle Sieges take place every Sunday night where clans compete for control over Castle Delos in a large-scale PvP battle with siege weaponry. Whichever clan takes control of the castle and holds it for a set amount of time gains control of it until the next siege. The clan that controls the castle gets to set the tax rate in Moradon and Delos.

Large scale nation vs nation battles take place every Friday night in an event called “Lunar Gate.” Players earn National Points and Leader Points for killing members of the opposing faction while losing points on death. Players are encouraged to party up with others when participating in Lunar Gate because, even though National and Leader Points are split, it's much easier to gain points in a group. At the end of every month, the top ranked players (top 50 for National Points and top 200 for Leader Points) are rewarded with premium cash shop currency. Players can also gain and lose these points while fighting in open-world areas like Ronark and Andream.

Those looking for more casual PvP can participate in the game's battlegrounds (arenas) where death has no National/Leader Point consequence. Skill plays an important role in PvP, but typically the player with better gear has a huge advantage in battle and unfortunately the cash shop in Knight Online makes the game a bit pay-to-win.

Cash Shop

The cash shop in Knight Online sells a combination of convenience and pay-to-win items. For example, the Shadow Piece increases the success rate for upgrading equipment. Those looking to get the best possible equipment in the game effectively need to use these Shadow Pieces to successfully upgrade their equipment. Powerful potions that heal for incredible amounts of HP/MP are also available in the cash shop, which can make PvP unfair. Another pay-to-win item is the “Dragons Wing” which adds wings to your character and permanently increases either your HP, DEF, or XP gain. On the cosmetics front, players can purchase various costumes.

Turks Everywhere!

The majority of Knight Online players are Turkish. This is evident simply by looking at player names or hopping onto the official forums, as the Turkish sections have significantly more activity. Players can also have custom emblems on their cloaks and there are A LOT of Turks in-game showing off their patriotism with the Turkish flag on their capes. The large foreign playerbase isn't exactly a big issue, but it does make in-game communication more difficult, especially in PvP where proper coordination is key to victory.

Private Servers

Knight Online has a thriving private server community. Like Ragnarok Online and Mu Online, there are hundreds of free-to-play private servers for the game with varying levels of customization. The official servers are free-to-play as well, but those looking for increased XP gain and custom items can explore one of the many private servers available.

Final Verdict – Good

Despite its age, Knight Online is still going strong. It was an innovative 3D MMORPG back when it first launched in 2003 and even though it offers nothing special today, the game's PvP remains exciting. It's hard to recommend the game to newer players, as many of the current players are longtime veterans of the game. Those with with older systems that can't play newer games should definitely check it out.

Screenshots

Knight Online Screenshots

Videos

Knight Online Videos

Knight Online Massive PvP!

System Requirements

Knight Online System Requirements

Minimum Requirements:

Operating System: Windows  98 / 2000 / XP / ME / Vista / 7 / 8
CPU: Pentium 3 600 MHz
Video Card: Any GPU
RAM: 512 MB
Hard Disk Space: 2.2 GB

Recommended Requirements:

Operating System: Windows  98 / 2000 / XP / ME / Vista / 7 / 8
CPU: Pentium 4 1.8 GHz
Video Card: Any GPU
RAM: 1 GB
Hard Disk Space: 2.2 GB

Music

Knight Online Music & Soundtrack

Coming soon!

Additional Info

Knight Online Additional Information

Developer: MGame
Publisher: MGame (Korea), Sohu (China); GamersFirst (NA; retired); NTTGame (Global)

Platform(s): PC

South Korea Release: Q2 2003 
US Release:
 August 17, 2004
China Release: 2004

Development History / Background:

Knight Online was developed by the South Korean game developer Wizgate, which later became MGame. It was one of the first immensely popular free-to-play MMORPGs in South Korea. With over five million players worldwide on the official servers alone and a surprisingly vibrant private server community, Knight Online is one of the most popular free MMORPGs in the world. Knight Online found particular success in Turkey and is one of the most popular free MMORPGs there. The game originally launched in the U.S. through GamersFirst (K2 Networks), but since they lost the license, NoahSystems/NTTGame picked up the global license to the game.