King's Bounty II

[Infinitron]

Reviews:

COGconnected 71/100
Cultured Vultures 4/10
Gamers Heroes 90/100
GameSpew 5/10
God is a Geek 8/10
NintendoWorldReport 6.5/10
PC Gamer 59/100
PC Invasion 6.5/10
PCGamesN 6/10
PlayStation Universe 7.5/10
Push Square 5/10
Ragequit.gr 84/100
Rock Paper Shotgun

 

[kain30]

I´m liking the game so far, but the character movement is so slow that i´m going to wait a couple of days until someone makes a speedhack to continue playing.

Nigga you just download cheatengine,keybind the speedhack speeds and then press a button while running the game with the cheatengine.

I haven´t used cheatengine for a long time, I didn´t know. Thanks!

 

[Tomas]

Are there item upgrades, like when you used to have to fight the mobs “inside“?

 

[Lyre Mors]

Edi: To be honest, don't understand the speed / fast travel complaint. Game seems pretty dense so far with many fast travel portals. Much quicker than you'd experience with a H&S.

This insane amount of impatience that players show these days is the reason why fast travel has become so prevalent in game design, and is destroying the entire exploration aspect of RPGs as a result. I'd expect to see such complaints about slow movement from the unwashed masses, but seeing it complained about more and more even on the codex is disheartening. Yes, the movement is slow. But when the game world is dense and you take its scale into consideration, it's a matter of pacing and bestowing a sense of place on the player. Creating the impression of actually moving through a game world.

 

[Arthandas]

Reviews:

COGconnected 71/100
Cultured Vultures 4/10
Gamers Heroes 90/100
GameSpew 5/10
God is a Geek 8/10
NintendoWorldReport 6.5/10
PC Gamer 59/100
PC Invasion 6.5/10
PCGamesN 6/10
PlayStation Universe 7.5/10
Push Square 5/10
Ragequit.gr 84/100
Rock Paper Shotgun

The reviews are pretty clear, they unanimously agree that's indeed a video game.

 

[IDtenT]

Are there item upgrades, like when you used to have to fight the mobs “inside“?

I hope so, but haven't seen anything yet. Haven't seen wives with buffs or rage mechanics either. Sad losses if they aren't in.

 

[fantadomat]

Edi: To be honest, don't understand the speed / fast travel complaint. Game seems pretty dense so far with many fast travel portals. Much quicker than you'd experience with a H&S.

This insane amount of impatience that players show these days is the reason why fast travel has become so prevalent in game design, and is destroying the entire exploration aspect of RPGs as a result. I'd expect to see such complaints about slow movement from the unwashed masses, but seeing it complained about more and more even on the codex is disheartening. Yes, the movement is slow. But when the game world is dense and you take its scale into consideration, it's a matter of pacing and bestowing a sense of place on the player. Creating the impression of actually moving through a game world.

EKEX gave FT as any other PB game,yet they make the best explorofag games,same goes for vogel games. The problem is not the fast travel but how shit the devs are.

 

[Lyre Mors]

EKEX gave FT as any other PB game,yet they make the best explorofag games,same goes for vogel games. The problem is not the fast travel but how shit the devs are.

I'm saying fast travel implemented without initial exploration in mind. In ELEX - just as in King's Bounty II - you have to at least explore and find your fast travel points before you can use them. The teleportation stones in Gothic are an even better solution to the problem. I'm not against fast travel as a whole, I'm against it being available from the very beginning of the game or being over-ubiquitous in general.

Most average gamers would like to be able to fast travel to any location on the map from the moment they start the game. This is what I'm referring to.

 

[BlackAdderBG]

Ok so I'm about to finish the first area, about 2 hours in.

First impressions - the reviews saying it's p. much the good old King's Bounty, only clunkier, uglier and with a useless 3D layer draped over it were right.

I get it. After 4 or 5 games looking and playing exactly the same they wanted to do something different. Tbh most fans wanted to freshen up the formula too. And so the devs thought "let's make it look superficially like a proper open-world RPG, to get a broader appeal".

Well it was utterly misguided. First of, nobody is fooled 15 mins in. It only looks like a traditional RPG with TB combat from afar. In reality it's just another King's Bounty, i.e. a fairly niche game for a niche audience. Second, they wanted to 3D but only had a handful of rubles in their pockets and it shows. Game looks like a remastered Morrowind. Moving is clunky and slow (for no reason I might add since mobs are stationary this time around so there's zero reason not to allow players run fast). VO is functional at best, don't expect any charm or immersion here. Same goes for the art style. Overall the presentation is truly drab and charmless, including the writing and music which has always been KB's strong point.

As for the gameplay itself, it's p. good. As I said, inside it's the good old KB yet again. Due to the stupid 3D layer everything is less clear, transparent and ergonomic but on the plus side the terrain is more varied and allows for more tacticool maneuvering and the 3D world allows for more interesting exploration and level design. I really don't have anything more interesting to say about the gameplay - most of the features work p. much the same, only with different names here and there.

Should you buy it right now? Probably not, unless you're a hardcore KB fan like me (if so, it's 40 bucks on GMG). For most people it's better to wait for a sale. Game is still rough around the edges, needs a few patches and updates (can't remap keys, can't set combat speed, only one difficulty etc.). If the devs stick with it and listen to the feedback a year from now it could be a solid tacticool RPG, if you can filter out the disappointing presentation.

Ok so I'm about to finish Megaton, about 2 hours in.

First impressions - the reviews saying it's p. much the good old Fallout, only clunkier, uglier and with a useless 3D layer draped over it were right.

I get it. After 4 or 5 games looking and playing exactly the same they wanted to do something different. Tbh most fans wanted to freshen up the formula too. And so the devs thought "let's make it look superficially like a proper open-world RPG, to get a broader appeal".

Well it was utterly misguided. First of, nobody is fooled 15 mins in. It only looks like a traditional RPG with TB combat from afar. In reality it's just another Fallout, i.e. a fairly niche game for a niche audience. Second, they wanted to 3D but only had a handful of rubles in their pockets and it shows. Game looks like a remastered Morrowind. Moving is clunky and slow (for no reason I might add since mobs are stationary this time around so there's zero reason not to allow players run fast). VO is functional at best, don't expect any charm or immersion here. Same goes for the art style. Overall the presentation is truly drab and charmless, including the writing and music which has always been KB's strong point.

As for the gameplay itself, it's p. good. As I said, inside it's the good old Fallout yet again. Due to the stupid 3D layer everything is less clear, transparent and ergonomic but on the plus side the terrain is more varied and allows for more tacticool maneuvering and the 3D world allows for more interesting exploration and level design. I really don't have anything more interesting to say about the gameplay - most of the features work p. much the same, only with different names here and there.

Should you buy it right now? Probably not, unless you're a hardcore Fallout fan like me (if so, it's 40 bucks on GMG). For most people it's better to wait for a sale. Game is still rough around the edges, needs a few patches and updates (can't remap keys, can't set combat speed, only one difficulty etc.). If the devs stick with it and listen to the feedback a year from now it could be a solid tacticool RPG, if you can filter out the disappointing presentation

 

[cvv]

Fast travel definitely hurt Elex, wrote about it years ago. There are interesting ways to fast travel or move around the map. And then there is Elex/Witcher 3.

I just wrote in the TW3 thread the game suffers a little bit coz you can teleport from anywhere. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense and it's just too convenient. Convenience is seductively dangerous in any RPG, it's like winning 100 million dorra, everyone thinks they want it but when they do they usually go insane and hang themselves within a year.

I thought it'd be great if you could only move between teleporters, like in TW3, but they'd be half as numerous. However all factions would have different additional powers. The Zerkers would use magic to set up teleport points just like Lloyd's Beacon from M&M, the Clerics would some sort of transport vehicle (hovercraft?) and the Outlaws a more powerful jetpack capable of fast forward-rush movement type of deal. It'd be more logical AND it'd fit the lore.

 

[Arthandas]

Going strong

 

[Lyre Mors]

Fast travel definitely hurt Elex, wrote about it years ago. There are interesting ways to fast travel or move around the map. And then there is Elex/Witcher 3.

We are of the same opinion then. I forgot that in ELEX I placed a self-imposed rule on myself that I would only teleport if I was actually at a teleporter. This became so ingrained in my playthrough that I actually forgot you can teleport to anywhere, and yeah, that's shit.

And like I said before, make these places you can fast travel to less ubiquitous, so you actually have to plan your routes efficiently. That's, again, why I have always found the teleportation stones in Gothic to be one of the more elegant solutions to fast travel in an RPG.

 

[cvv]

Fast travel definitely hurt Elex, wrote about it years ago. There are interesting ways to fast travel or move around the map. And then there is Elex/Witcher 3.

We are of the same opinion then. I forgot that in ELEX I placed a self-imposed rule on myself that I would only teleport if I was actually at a teleporter. This became so ingrained in my playthrough that I actually forgot you can teleport to anywhere, and yeah, that's shit.

And like I said before, make these places you can fast travel to less ubiquitous, so you actually have to plan your routes efficiently. That's, again, why I have always found the teleportation stones in Gothic to be one of the more elegant solutions to fast travel in an RPG.

Overall in big RPGs fast travel is p. much necessary, save for various Hardcore or challenge modes etc., but it can be done interestingly. For example you can only fast travel with paid caravans/ships/airships. Or with magical beacons/town portals. Both have always been a staple of Might&Magic games. If fast travel is free and you can teleport from anywhere it ruins the game.

Btw when I was talking about slow movement I meant the actual physical movement of your dude. In previous KB games this had to be carefully balanced because many mobs were patrolling (with different speeds) so the speed of your dude had to be fixed. But now that mobs are stationary there isn't any reason to not allow players to spring or to set their own speed in the menu.

Same for setting the combat speed btw, for me one of the most important features in any game of this type.

 

[IDtenT]

Movement and battle speed, together with difficulty, should all be patchable. Strange that none of those options made it in, but this game had a deadline established like a year ahead of time (way too long!). This is publishers being screwy again. I hope the game sees good after-launch support, but I'm not 100% hopeful. Either way it isn't a bad game, based on only being a couple of hours in.

I like games that have contextual fast travel. Think Silt Striders in Morrowind or Taxi in Anachronox. But I grew up with games that had none of that shit, and hey we survived.

In something like Skyrim it made no sense as you had the contextual caravan AND bullshit click and go.

 

[Tigranes]

So first impressions are "good old King's Bounty but with some needless shit covering the good stuff"? Are there any notable changes/improvements to the core gameplay loop?

 

[Shadenuat]

I can't believe 1C (holy moley they're alive??) tried to play grafix card and impress anyone with some outdated motion cap.

If you're Ru dev your cards are classic gameplay, difficulty, interesting approaches, not cosplaying as AAA

 

[IDtenT]

So first impressions are "good old King's Bounty but with some needless shit covering the good stuff"? Are there any notable changes/improvements to the core gameplay loop?

I haven't played enough yet, but I've always wanted more opportunity to level units and this provides that. I've always been a fan of unit levels in strategy games. Otherwise the arenas being unique based on location is pretty cool.

Not having doom stacks is also an interesting mechanic, that I think will have a massive impact late game.

 

[Assisted Living Godzilla]

The amount of units you can have in a group is so small I'm not exactly sure why they didn't just make a tactical RPG where you have individual control over every unit instead of staying with the strategy style system of King's Bounty and Heroes of Might and Magic.

 

[Shadenuat]

Also where did they drop the maybe cartoonish, but fairly comely style, together with frog waifus and dragon from Lilo and Stitch
which was probably one of the things games were liked the most

 

[markec]

Also where did they drop the maybe cartoonish, but fairly comely style, together with frog waifus and dragon from Lilo and Stitch
which was probably one of the things games were liked the most

The visuals are really bland and the game looks more like a sequel of Ascension to the Throne then Kings Bounty. Which I would not mind since I really like that game but this just doesnt feel like Kings Bounty game.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

I fully expected this to be janky and that the completely inadequate AAA+ price will bite them in the ass hard, but looking at steam reviews it seems that they did not only that, but also tried going for the phantom console audience pretty hard at the same time. Seeing such silliness from this type of dev in 2021 is both sad and hilarious.

 

[jf8350143]

I don't remember levelling up your units being a thing in the older games. I feel like it's gonna be a problem when you get some new creatures to recruit in the future but they are still level one thus way weaker comparing to the ones you are using at the moment.

 

[IDtenT]

I don't remember levelling up your units being a thing in the older games. I feel like it's gonna be a problem when you get some new creatures to recruit in the future but they are still level one thus way weaker comparing to the ones you are using at the moment.

Units are meant to be swapped in and out based on the encounter.

 

[Assisted Living Godzilla]

Also where did they drop the maybe cartoonish, but fairly comely style, together with frog waifus and dragon from Lilo and Stitch
which was probably one of the things games were liked the most

The visuals are really bland and the game looks more like a sequel of Ascension to the Throne then Kings Bounty. Which I would not mind since I really like that game but this just doesnt feel like Kings Bounty game.

I feel like ideally if you're making a King's Bounty game, and you're wanting to change the visual design from how the newer games look, you'd either go back to the box art for the original game or try and do some kind of take on that kind of classic D&D monster manual looking style the sprites in King's Bounty - HoM&M2 had. Not that it has to or needs to look like either of those two things, but those are two directions they could have gone that would have been interesting and nice and cool looking. However, the direction they did go visually, this kind of Dragon Age inspired look...it's pretty fucking boring; not only is it boring, but from a presentational standpoint the game looks pretty bad during combat encounters. Knowing now you're just controlling these tiny groups, I'm kind of wondering why the game doesn't just keep you in that third person view you explore in and just let the player zoom in and out, and move the camera around as they wish if they want you to be able to see more.

I'm not even really sure why you'd want people thinking of Dragon Age in 2021 when they're looking at your game either. Like maybe ten years ago I could get some developer wanting someone to think BioWare when they looked at their game too. But now? It ain't even like Dragon Age is some huge seller. Looking at the concept art for King's Bounty: The Legend just now it almost seems too bad they didn't just stay with that cartoony style they were going for but never quite pulled off.

The style of that game's concept art seems to land somewhere between Warcraft 3 and Ghost 'N Goblins...more specifically those Maximo spinoff. Like those skeletons I could easily see in Maximo.

 

[cvv]

I don't remember levelling up your units being a thing in the older games. I feel like it's gonna be a problem when you get some new creatures to recruit in the future but they are still level one thus way weaker comparing to the ones you are using at the moment.

They introduced unit levelling in WotN. Swapping weak veteran units for strong new ones wasn't a huge problem, levelling was p. fast.