KickStarter Knights of the Chalice 2 Thread - Augury of Chaos

[treave]

Original graphics were fine. Anyone who managed to navigate Ultima VII should've had no problems anyway.

This, though, almost looks like a recreation of a table-top game. Wouldn't say it's an improvement but it's not like I hate it either.

 

[Coyote]

I like it. It's only the map editor, but I suppose it gives an impression.

Emphasis mine. So is that just what the map editor will look like, or will the game look like that too? When I first saw that several months ago, I think the creator said that the game would look like that, but there was some backlash against that, and I would be pleasantly surprised to learn that it has changed. I'm no graphics-whore, but that's just a little more abstraction than I'd prefer.

You mean there's actually someone somewhere who finished ironman KotC... Wow :shock: (no, not World of Warcraft).

Well, I came to level 11. At that point only my wizard had died once.
Then I lost my savegame because I quit the game without saving, duh!
So the problem was that the game would delete your save as soon as you loaded it and then if you forgot to save when quitting or if the game crashed (happens not often but still) you're fucked. But I know at least one who finished an ironman game. Or at least he said so.

Maybe you're right. It was unplayable or at the very least very unlikely to ever finish the game in ironman mode.

On the contrary, t's very doable; the only time I didn't play KotC ironman was my first playthrough. As long as you don't gimp your party at character creation and make it past the first few levels, it's not too hard until near the very end of the game. Once you've gotten past the gold mine bandit city, a relatively easy area, you can afford to craft overpowered items that will give you a major advantage throughout the giant fortresses to the point that the battles there feel like filler combat.

The toughest part is probably the cave that you take to get to bandit city, where you fall through the ground into an ambush and have to face several encounters including a medusa and a dragon before you get a chance to rest; I almost always lose a character there and unless you head to the high-level area of the map early, I think you only have access to one Raise Dead scroll at that point. If you have trouble with the [semi-]final battle, just take out as many of your enemies as you can while heading in the direction of one of those nooks, and once there cast Wall of Stone so that you can buff up your party without distractions.

And yeah, Improved Initiative is pretty much a necessity.

 

[Carlos' Bitch1]

Now that is brilliant. If anyone would like to make RPG's that look like this, I would welcome it with open arms. Clean, clear, crisp. To the point. And this usually means the rest of the time can be devoted to other important aspects, which I think some of you never really understand.

 

[Roguey]

That's a picture of MapTool he used as an example of what the perspective will be like, not what he's actually using I believe.

 

[mondblut]

Original graphics were fine. Anyone who managed to navigate Ultima VII should've had no problems anyway.

This.

If given a choice between low-res skewed angle perspective with basic animation, and digitized "dungeon tiles" with cardboard tokens, I'll go for the former any day of the year.

If there are normal figurines, even without animation, that's ok with me, but these paper tokens are massive turn-off. Even tabletop D&D has miniatures, FFS. It looks like a poor man's D&D, emphasis on poor, as in "too cheap to buy a few sets of miniatures".

 

[7hm]

Now that is brilliant. If anyone would like to make RPG's that look like this, I would welcome it with open arms. Clean, clear, crisp. To the point. And this usually means the rest of the time can be devoted to other important aspects, which I think some of you never really understand.

Same. I have no issues with that style of graphics.

 

[Mortmal]

Thats why i still play pen and paper rpgs using fantasy grounds 2:

Its reasonable expectations to have a computer game using those graphic assets , with a decent IA playing the DM. You have deep and complex indie strategy games like europa universalis or heart of iron 2, i am sure those guy could script us a decent rpg IA as well.

 

[Johannes]

^What's IA mean?

 

[catfood]

AI

 

[Admiral jimbob]

Looks like it's just the map editor to me. Honestly, though, I'd take that over KotC 1's style. It's a bit of a shameful point for me, but something about that warped perspective puts me off games almost completely, possibly because I find myself walking at a 25 degree backwards slant for the next week after playing one.

 

[desocupado]

Gotta agree with mondblut on this one. It feels too much like a board game (I'm aware that D&D is a board game).

The first one's graphics, altough in my opinion atrocious, were functional, and after 5 minutes ceased to bother me.

 

[quasimodo]

Since my options for good TB combat in RPGs these days seems to involve scouring the internets for 15+ yr old games I'll take anything he chooses to dish out.

 

[Eyeball]

I really wanted to try KOTC1 - unfortunately, the demo put me off it as I wasn't allowed to create a party (one of the most fun things to do in RPGs) and it threw me into poorly defined situations of overwhelming opposition.

I didn't appreciate that - I never played D&D because the basic ruleset is pure faggotass, so I'd like a bit of easing into it. Sadly, I could find no pirated copy of the game to download so I could see if the real campaign is newbie-friendly enough for me to enjoy, so I could decide whether to give my money to an obviously dedicated indie programmer as I would like to.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Since my options for good TB combat in RPGs these days seems to involve scouring the internets for 15+ yr old games I'll take anything he chooses to dish out.

dito, I would be happy with the graphics as they were in KotC 1, but don't care if he goes with this new style anyways.

 

[SkeleTony]

Too much about this guy's design philosophy kind of irks me. 4 person parties instead of 6+ person parties. Adherence to OD&D 'Fire and forget' magic. Psionicists. Boring Elf/Dwarf/Human/Halfling standard D&D races.

I could put up with some of it but not with the whole package. I would just like a little out of the (OD&D/AD&D)box thinking.

I honestly tried to like KoTC ...repeatedly. But I just get bored with it and adding more races and classes is a good start but if he is adamant about the 4 person party thing and the rest of it....

 

[mondblut]

Adherence to OD&D 'Fire and forget' magic.

Why do you lie?

It has slot-based magic. You have like five 1st level spell slots and you can cast any 1st level spells you know until all slots are spent. Add various metamagic feats and you can even use other (higher) level slots for your favorite Read Magic by augmenting it this or that way.

Also, there are no psionicists in KOTC1 and the only races are humans, muls (half-dwarves) and half-elves. You sure we played the same game?

 

[deuxhero]

Ai, I enjoy that pic quite a bit, shows the needed info and is fine to look at.



At worst, it's still better than the awful inconsistant head tilting prospective of the first game (which is why I haven't bought it after playing the demo)

 

[Mortmal]

Since my options for good TB combat in RPGs these days seems to involve scouring the internets for 15+ yr old games I'll take anything he chooses to dish out.

So true , so true... anyway top down view could be excellent as well, the pics linked are not form kotc2 but just from map tools and fg2, its more than likely better.

 

[torpid]

I for one welcome this new, non-migraine-inducing perspective.

 

[Berekän]

I don't get all the hate for the graphics, aside from the weird perspective (that took, what, 5 minutes to get used to?) they were nice and had quite a lot of charm. The only thing that should be changed it's the font and some distinction between the same models by the weapons they're carrying, so I can see in a quick view if someone is equipped with a sword or with a halberd.

 

[Serus]

Same as above. The only thing that bothered me in KoTC 1 graphics was the extremely low amount of monster models. I really hate it when i have to scroll over each enemy to READ if he is a magic user or a warrior. Other than that - graphics were perfectly functional and charming in a weird oldschooly way. I'd love too see the same in KoTC 2 with more distincion between races/classes/monster types.

 

[asper]

Not to mention a readable font.

 

[Damned Registrations]

That was rather annoying.

I wonder if they'll close up some of the cheesy DnD spell tricks that are so overpowered this time around, like Ray of Enfeeblement on dragons, or Web raping everything in the game except spiders. Or Silence being completely overpowered by not allowing a saving throw.

Adding stealth/surprise mechanics would be nice too. Was kind of stupid walking down a corridor into an open, lit room and being 'surprised' by all 30 enemies inside it that I mysteriously couldn't see. Also, I hope this time they use fewer exploding walls and just make the enemies ambush us by opening fucking doors.

More variety in summons would be cool too. Would be awesome to be able to summon Vrocks at the high levels, or bears or tigers or giant vermin.

Lastly, they should change the balance on cost of magic equipment. Highly enchanted weapons cost way too much considering how little impact they actually have compared to something like boots of striding, a spider cloak, or a wand of fireballs. I shouldn't be able to to dish out 5d6 fire damage in a huge area at long range for the entire game at 1/10th the cost of a +5 sword with an extra 1d6 fire damage on hit.

 

[deuxhero]

I'd rather they not fix the "bugs". 3.5's powerful magic makes being a magic user fun (rather than a magic archer) for once. As long as there is no "fell drain locate city", we're good.


Also, magic weapons should have only the mandatory +1 in raw magic bonus, the rest should be in special abilities.

 

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Do you think a KotC 2 kickstarter could achieve $63K?
http://www.heroicfantasygames.com/Forums/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=386&start=30#p3792