Tactical role -playing game King’s Bounty: The Legend of the Knight It is rightfully considered one of the heights of the Russian Gamdev. Her playful fairy -tale world has fascinated the whole generation of players. And it is not surprising that the announcement of the sequel – more gloomy and cinema – was met by many with skepticism.
We visited the presentation King’s Bounty II and talked with developers from 1C Entertainment. Why the sequel is so different from the original and what is its glorious traditions continues to? How the authors hope to go to a new console audience, without scaring away lovers of hardcore tactics?
The corridors of the kingdom
Strictly speaking, in front of us is the third iteration of the franchise, each of which was the fruit of its era. King’s Bounty (1990) John van Canage has grown from the early 80s strategies for ZX Spectrum. " The legend of the knight "-Game from and for gamers of the early 2000s, faithful fans Warcraft III And Heroes of Might & Magic III(which he herself owes many the first King’s Bounty). And then, finally, King’s Bounty II Looks at the Trends of the Industry over the past 10-15 years.
The most capacious concept of the project is described by Chapter 1C Entertainment Nikolai Baryshnikov:
If we compare us with someone, then a direct analogue can be called "" Witcher ". But not in terms of the similarity of worlds, gameplay, style, etc.p. series, and in terms of production and the formation of a series. Who remembers CD Projekt Red At the very beginning of their path with the first "witcher"? At first they were popular only in Russia and the CIS, then they released the second part on the Xbox 360 and were able to prove themselves in the USA and other countries. We have about the same process: we restarted the series, gained a new large team and now we are making our sort of “witcher” 2.5. If everything works out, then someday we will do the “Witcher 3” itself.
Kinematographic plus tactics. Depth is not to the detriment of intuitiveness. Variability of history with relative linearity of design. Among other sources of inspiration of young ladies mentions Mass Effect , Fable And the cycle The Banner Saga.
The world and characters King’s Bounty II are new, but the authors saved a lot of funny references to the previous games for fans
The "Legend of the Knight" served the plot in the old way through a series of deployed text dialogs. KB2 is diligently imitating Big Hollywood, which has become the norm for the role-playing games of the 2010s. Every 10-15 minutes, players are replaced by spectacular (and completely voiced) katsen, and the characters are now explained by short, screed replicas. Even the dialogue system is actually abolished: the authors believe that unnecessary conversations slow down the gameplay and most of the players still flip out them.
The frivolous tone of the "Legends of the Knight" has gone the past. However, even in a new gloomy setting, you can find a couple of crazy quests in the classical spirit
However, Baryshnikov notes that KB2 is much larger than in the predecessor, and the world of the game is full of conflicts, opposing fractions and quests. The project script was created with the participation of the famous science fiction writer Alexander Zorich, and the action takes place in the magical kingdom of Nostria. The once prosperous country is immersed in chaos under the influence of a mysterious epidemic: the supernatural “destruction” ruins cities and villages, the inhabitants turn into distraught monsters, but while healthy regions can not cope with the influx of refugees.
The fate of the kingdom is in the hands of three heroes – everyone, as usual, has their own abilities and origin. One of them can be immediately controlled, and the rest will meet the player along the plot as NPC. Of all the protagonists, the developers have preferred a warrior Ivor: he served in the royal guard for many years, but went to all heavy and went into the free mercenaries.
The choice of the character largely determines the direction of history. Many quests provide solutions that are unique for a particular hero. For example, in the prologue the path of the player is blocked by three harsh golems. Nearby you can find their owner-nocromancer under the protection of the magic power field. Aivor treats magic with distrust, so his path is to break through the golems ahead. But the character-mage, on the contrary, easily removes the force field and will take a side quest from the necromancer, at the end of which the golems themselves will leave the road.
A huge card is hardly possible to get around on foot. The services of travelers are horses and a quick movement system
Additional variability creates a system of reputation. Cooked abilities in KB2 are distributed by four “ideals”: order, anarchy, strength and skill. The more points the player puts in one of the directions, the more effective the corresponding skills become. However, the world begins to react to the choice made: some quests are opened, others become inaccessible. The royal guard hardly wants to speak with the adherent of the anarchy, but in the den of the robbers he will be accepted with open arms.
On the one hand, such a system ties a good story to gameplay. The development of history now determines not words, but actions, and passing for each of the three heroes can become a unique. On the other hand, fans of more traditional RPGs will surely feel constrained. In KB2, the player does not so much create and plays the role of the character as he watches the movement of the ready -made hero along one of the routes intended for him. Cinematography here is more important than immersion in history.
The equally straightforward approach is noticeable in other aspects of the game. The protagonist cannot, as in Fable , Buy a house and start a family – the plot does not need it. All locations are tied to their quests, nothing more. The formally open world of Nostria is actually a network of linear corridors, from which it is impossible to get off and go, say, to conquer the mountain peaks. The change of weather and time of day is also not provided for.
Despite the corridor of locations, various secrets and collection trophies are hidden here and there, giving bonuses to the characteristics of the hero
In theory, the player should not linger anywhere, which means that the dynamics of impressions will be ensured by a constant change of situations and landscapes. Snow -covered forests and white -stone palaces, gloomy mines and sun -flooded meadows – nostria really looks spectacular and diverse. But it’s not so easy to get rid of the feeling that you are not exploring not a living unpredictable world, but just a set of scenery.
The special forces of His Majesty
However, the heart of any King’s Bounty is not a plot, but step -by -step battles. The sequel remains faithful to traditional mechanics, but realizes them at the modern level. In the "Legend of the Knight", the fights took place in a separate arena with a random back and a set of obstacles. Now all the battles unfold in the “reality” of the game – right where the player meets the enemy in the study of the world.
This allows you to evaluate your chances in advance taking into account the characteristics of the landscape. For example, long -range units in KB2 must take into account not only the distance to the target, but also the projectile for the projectile for the projectile. In the arena with many high shelters, archers become useless – and from the height of the hill, on the contrary, they get the opportunity to control the entire map.
In battle, not only the hero, but also individual units receives experience. Those who last long enough will be able to pump to the third level and gain new abilities
Another important difference: in the sequel, all detachments on the battlefield are shown entirely, unlike the same “heroes”, where the number of units in the glass was reflected in numbers. Firstly, this enhances the emotional response and allows you to evaluate the situation by eye. The death of a random speakerman is perceived much more acute, when he is, lies at the feet of his comrades, who now cause only 75% of damage.
Secondly, the presence of fighters in the arena does not allow to create an invincible army from a couple of hundred dragons, as happened in the "Legend of the Knight". The victory in KB2 must be mined in small, competently selected detachments with different combination of skills. Suppose that in one of the battles the hero’s troops are under the shelling of archers who have settled on the fortress wall. While ordinary swordsmen get there, half of the army is field. But the alignment will change if you send skeletons invulsive to penetrating blows to the battle. Or another option: at the end of a certain quest, the player will be able to bring down the union detachment of the eagles on archers.
For the convenience of a casual audience, the complexity level is automatically adapted to the player's skill
As in the “Legend of the Knight”, the protagonist himself does not participate in battle, but supports the soldier with spells and, depending on his own characteristics, affects their effectiveness. Reputation also matters: fighters are more willing to fight for the commander sharing their ideals https://jackpot-charm-casino.co.uk/. Interestingly, enemy heroes-bosses have a similar effect: their subordinates also have an indicator of the fighting spirit.
Rethinks KB2 and approach to mana. Unlike many fantasy games, here this resource is not restored by itself – not only for reasons of balance, but also for plot reasons. The new sources of mana will have to be sought throughout the nostrilia, so the game for the magician will require additional caution and strategic thinking.
In general, the combat system now looks one of the main arguments in favor of KB2. The battles combine entertainment and depth, give motivation to experiment with the composition of the detachments and protect each fighter. Is it a joke, but it may well turn out that building an effective and loyal army will give players more scope for self -expression and emotional response than role -playing mechanics.
The story campaign is designed for about 40 hours. But the developers emphasize that to get acquainted with all quests will need several passages for different heroes
Already soon King’s Bounty II will go to the status of beta versions. Nikolai Baryshnikov assures that work on the main part of the content has been completed, and the next four months the developers will spend on catching bugs and thawing animations. March 26, 2021 a new era will begin for the illustrious franchise. But what will she turn around? Much depends on how dynamic and fascinating the plot will turn out to be: at the proper pace of passage, many compromises in design will not have time to become a real problem. The risk is great, but the project does not occupy the potential.
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