KickStarter Knights of the Chalice 2 Thread - Augury of Chaos

[Reinhardt]

basic game is not the prettiest thing but with top down view and tokens there is potential to make it look beautiful. just need some basic map-making skills.

 

[Grunker]

he made a release on steam = money
he could have made more with better and consistent art whether its token or sprites.

He's bad at that shit.

Instead of biting his ankles help a brother out.

Unfortunately Pierre has proved he cannot be helped on this point. Plenty of those of us who bought KotC1 at full price, played the fuck out of it and provided tons of mostly praiseful feedback on his forum had to acknowledge that Pierre is strongly ideologically against ever doing stuff for commercial purposes (such as strategic price slashing).

I'm amazed this game even made it to steam to be frank

 

[AdolfSatan]

There's one token pack on the Nexus that gives you enough appealing/distinctive tokens to play the game fine. I'm just too lazy to remove all the garbage Pierre included with the game so have to keep scrolling thru. There are even a few decent ones there.

My point is to achieve a unified look by drawing from a single (or as little as possible if one's not enough) source and use it specifically to replace all the existing tokens included in KOTC2 (i.e. using the same names) so that simply by extracting and replacing in the appropriate folder, all tokens in the game will be automatically replaced.

But this would require way more time than I'm willing to spend on my own. Now, if a couple of codexers with joined me, I could coordinate an effort to get it done over the course of two weeks without much effort from the involved.

 

[Achiman]

I just finished the game, mainly because I got covid on saturday and have to stay in my house an play vidya games.
Anyway, one of the hardest, most unfair rage inducing, uninstalled then immediately reinstalled turn based game I've come across.
I finished the game with my party at level 19, which from what I can tell is slightly underlevelled.
Not sure if it's intended, but spellcasters are godly in this whereas the warrior type classes really (while being helpful and necessary) seem just like meat shields or for mopping up what hasn't been destroyed by the AOE shitshow.

On one hand Pierre is a magnificent bastard for making such challenging turn based combat with hand crafted set pieces that seem impossible until something clicks, you learn, or you get a bit of rngesus.

On the other he's designed a game that is a normie repellant and I doubt will be anywhere nearly as commercially successful as it could have been if he just allowed some more tilting of the scales to the player side.
I convinced my old cheese to buy the game this weekend and after a brief conversation with him on steam today, he's basically getting absolutely raped in the tutorial.
He is not a dnd style of game player typically but has played many turn based games and strategy games.

With a game that is so overwhelming in what you can do (and how the game can fuck you in oh so many ways) some concession to the player in difficulty modification would help Pierre fund KOTC 3.

Normal difficulty is already insanely juiced compared to the original game or even Enchanter (what I’m playing now). The whole point is the joy of the aha! moments. I really don’t get the incessant drive to deprive new players of them and the idea it will be the key to commercial success instead of the main reason contemporary games struggle.

Give people some credit, even those who haven’t discovered the fun of figuring things out for themselves yet.

The point is to get them to play the game long enough to recommend it and enjoy it.
Challenging games can be their own reward I agree , but arbitrary difficulty and route learning of encounters when you might not have the stamina or background in these sorts of games is certainly going to drive away some of his potential audience.
He's already got the price at the utter limits for an indie game, getting punched right in the face (metaphorically) right after you purchase it might not get everyone grinning ear to ear like you.

When Pierre irons out some of the last bugs he should also look at seeing if he can speed up the turns, if possible, some of these fights take a hour plus!

 

[JarlFrank]

How does the max stats option and the free level up change the game later on? Is it still hard? Because the start of the game seems super easy with those options.

Challenging but no longer cruel. The easiest part is the first chapter after Finchbury and the Low Sewers, because of the levels you gain in Finchbury.

You used to start in the cult lair at level 1 or 2. Now you can go up to level 5 before even setting foot in there.

 

[Desiderius]

Challenging games can be their own reward I agree , but arbitrary difficulty and route learning of encounters when you might not have the stamina or background in these sorts of games is certainly going to drive away some of his potential audience.
He's already got the price at the utter limits for an indie game, getting punched right in the face (metaphorically) right after you purchase it might not get everyone grinning ear to ear like you.

When Pierre irons out some of the last bugs he should also look at seeing if he can speed up the turns, if possible, some of these fights take a hour plus!

It's the polar opposite of arbitrary, especially the tutorial which is an absolute aha! generating work of art and quite a bit more difficult than the main game. The price point is cheap compared to the other entertainment options it's competing with in terms of time and engagement. I mean look at what people blow on Funko Pops or whatever.

This isn't the usual quickie indie game.

You're making the exact same mistake Sawyer makes in describing your enjoyment then imagining that no other potential players could possibly experience the same thing so denying it to them. It's some kind of bizarre superiority complex.

 

[Desiderius]

There's one token pack on the Nexus that gives you enough appealing/distinctive tokens to play the game fine. I'm just too lazy to remove all the garbage Pierre included with the game so have to keep scrolling thru. There are even a few decent ones there.

My point is to achieve a unified look by drawing from a single (or as little as possible if one's not enough) source and use it specifically to replace all the existing tokens included in KOTC2 (i.e. using the same names) so that simply by extracting and replacing in the appropriate folder, all tokens in the game will be automatically replaced.

But this would require way more time than I'm willing to spend on my own. Now, if a couple of codexers with joined me, I could coordinate an effort to get it done over the course of two weeks without much effort from the involved.

Sounds awesome. Let's do it.

 

[Reinhardt]

The price point is insanely cheap

Pierre reading codex: I KNEW IT!

 

[Darth Canoli]

How does the max stats option and the free level up change the game later on? Is it still hard? Because the start of the game seems super easy with those options.

It reminds me of half the codex whinging about Dark Sun: Shattered Lands being too easy because they used max attribute cheats and tri-classed their characters...

No it's not, sure, compared to everything else, it's probably difficult but max attributes means way higher saving throws, better AC, better THC, higher HP ...
What do you think it does?

You'll get what you deserve.
Free level up just allows you to make some shopping early on and don't matter much later.

Honestly, chapters 1 & 2 are insanely fun and replayable infinitely along with early chapter 3 so, if you find it too hard by then, change the settings but starting on max difficulty, particularly with the extra village content is really rewarding.
I've completed the game 3 times but reached chapter 4 twice as much, probably even 7 or 8 times, it tells you how fun it is since I usually get bored between half an hour and half a playthrough with most of the games released during the last 20 years.

 

[Jasede]

Acorns of Earthquake? Surprise rounds?

What kind of watered down piss ale did the game turn into?

When we tested the game we fought 16 cultists at level 3 using spit and sticks, and we liked it.

Oh yeah and the game crashed every few minutes so when you won you often had to redo it because it crashed after.

If your save game didn't corrupt.

 

[Dickie]

When we tested the game we fought 16 cultists at level 3 using spit and sticks, and we liked it.

 

[Darth Canoli]

Acorns of Earthquake? Surprise rounds?

The first version I played already had one acorn of earthquake to use on Pizarra and I think it was 1.03.
Now, the village gives you one more.

What kind of watered down piss ale did the game turn into?

When we tested the game we fought 16 cultists at level 3 using spit and sticks, and we loved to whine about it.

Oh yeah and the game crashed every few minutes so when you won you often had to redo it because it crashed after.

Fixed for you.
Also, half thread is about trannies whining about the tokens while the other half is about you whining about the game being impossible to beat.
Well, the early versions were way harder even than the actual archmage difficulty, due to new dialog options, I give you that.

 

[Iluvcheezcake]

Acorns of Earthquake? Surprise rounds?

What kind of watered down piss ale did the game turn into?

When we tested the game we fought 16 cultists at level 3 using spit and sticks, and we liked it.

Oh yeah and the game crashed every few minutes so when you won you often had to redo it because it crashed after.

If your save game didn't corrupt.

Quicksave that deleted your moneyz!

 

[jungl]

I liked the first game slightly more cause its longer. This one sucks casters dicks too much. It doesn't help the fights are always in tight spaces. I don't know if its possible with the knights of the chalice engine to make things more spacious.

 

[Darth Canoli]

I liked the first game slightly more cause its longer. This one sucks casters dicks too much. It doesn't help the fights are always in tight spaces. I don't know if its possible with the knights of the chalice engine to make things more spacious.

Fighter suck really hard in KotC 1, now with skewer and many other specific enchantments/builds, they can reliably hit and kill their opponents.
I remember KotC 1 late game being a mass harm / dehydrate fest with the fighter having 45% chances to hit at most.

 

[anvi]

I restarted for a second play through with new classes!

I am going with default Normal settings again. The max stats thing kinda turns this into Diablo... And the level up sounds nice but if I go Normal again I can compare the classes to my first run, so that's what I'm doing. (And no remove limits or level up hp). I think it will be easier second time anyway because I know stuff.

First run was sword/shield Fighter, Cleric, Elf Rogue, Wiz, Sorc, Bard. And picked up the Druid.

This time is Half Giant Samurai built for 2h reach and damage, Halfling Cleric (healing and banishment domain), Elf Necromancer (Wiz specced for Necro), Elf Psion, and 2 Elf Rangers cuz I want to see how it goes with less magic. Not sure on companion.

 

[Darth Canoli]

This time is Half Giant Samurai built for 2h reach and damage, Halfling Cleric (healing and banishment domain), Elf Necromancer (Wiz specced for Necro), Elf Psion, and 2 Elf Rangers cuz I want to see how it goes with less magic. Not sure on companion.

Great party, you should play on Archmage.

Spoiler

And Ironman to see how far you go...

 

[Berengar]

How is it that the first game looks better than the second game, and the second game, released in 2022, looks worse than games from the 90s? Stop coping and accept the reality that the tokens look terrible.

Graphical cohesion goes a long way. KotC1 may have been dated looking the day it came out, but it all flowed together and looks charming even in 2022. There is so much artistic whiplash right now in KotC2 that it makes everything look more amateurish than it actually is. I think Pierre mentioned in the Matt Chat interview that eventually some models will get updated so maybe as time goes on KotC2 will settling into a more cohesive and charming style in it's own right.

 

[AdolfSatan]

There's one token pack on the Nexus that gives you enough appealing/distinctive tokens to play the game fine. I'm just too lazy to remove all the garbage Pierre included with the game so have to keep scrolling thru. There are even a few decent ones there.

My point is to achieve a unified look by drawing from a single (or as little as possible if one's not enough) source and use it specifically to replace all the existing tokens included in KOTC2 (i.e. using the same names) so that simply by extracting and replacing in the appropriate folder, all tokens in the game will be automatically replaced.

But this would require way more time than I'm willing to spend on my own. Now, if a couple of codexers with joined me, I could coordinate an effort to get it done over the course of two weeks without much effort from the involved.

Sounds awesome. Let's do it.

Can we get two or three more codexers on for this? Come on you lazy bastards, it's a small effort for the greater good!

 

[Desiderius]

This time is Half Giant Samurai built for 2h reach and damage, Halfling Cleric (healing and banishment domain), Elf Necromancer (Wiz specced for Necro), Elf Psion, and 2 Elf Rangers cuz I want to see how it goes with less magic. Not sure on companion.

Great party, you should play on Archmage.

Spoiler

And Ironman to see how far you go...

I know you're down on Sam and after playing the Tutorial I can see why but there's more there than meets the eye, especially if you add in a Disarm/Trip package, and it covers the Word of Honor slot. That said I want my HG to be Grappling/Sliding so I'm running Champion this time while waiting for the Jorad bug to get fixed. Really wish Monk got Word of Honor.

As for Healing Domain I don't know WTF he's doing. I've yet to play Cleric since there are so many crazy Domains I can't give up Bishop but Healing ain't one of them. Is the Healbot thing a relic of people growing up on MMOs?

 

[FA7]

Me when game crashes right after 20 minute long battle:

 

[Lim-Dûl]

Is it possible to make the tokens square or rectangular? The circles bother me.

 

[anvi]

Yeah I always like a good healbot, but the healing domain was mostly because it lets you wreck stuff with Harm. I nearly got the second domain to add another +10 but I like dispelling all the ground shit.

 

[Desiderius]

Yeah I always like a good healbot, but the healing domain was mostly because it lets you wreck stuff with Harm. I nearly got the second domain to add another +10 but I like dispelling all the ground shit.

Banishment is solid but I'll eventually have a Pal for the Mass Prot and my Green Mage already specializes in Dispels.

If you're going for the Neg Energy line why not Bishop and go all out with Devastation, Destruction, etc?

Can't imagine going without Mysticism tho tbh.

Currently trying Trickery/Turning with Mysticism at 5 and Reach at 10. Sun turned out to be pretty good too in a different game after I took it to unlock Monk.

 

[Desiderius]

Anyone know what Necro Mage gets from the Crone Blood Pool?