King's Bounty: The Legend Catch-All

Would you still recommend starting with the original, or does jumping straight into Armored Princess make more sense considering the improvements?

Gunner wrote:

Would you still recommend starting with the original, or does jumping straight into Armored Princess make more sense considering the improvements?

I'd say that depends on what you want out of the game. I thought that Legend had, overall, more interesting characters/quests/funny moments than Armored Princess, though it did have a rather dull introduction. Because of the improvements and refinements, Armored Princess boasts superior combat/balance.

If you're in it more for the RPG elements, I'd say start with Legend for a small edge in 'whimsical durability' and somewhat more interesting quests.

If you're more focused on min/maxxing and shinier, more balanced combat (focused on the Strategy portion), I'd start with Armored Princess. There's a background/connection between the two that makes starting with Legend the logical choice from a narrative standpoint, but honestly you're not going to miss a whole lot consistency wise if you opt to fling open the gates with AP first.

Puce, the problem with no respawn I ran into in my mage game was that late in the game all the monsters I could find were rated as difficult for my group. So every fight I was taking losses that cost more to replace than I was getting in income. But I had no choice because I had to press forward and there were no other monsters to fight.

Should I have filled my ranks with more hordes of super-cheap troops, like peasants?

So having bought the AP+Crossworlds bundle on sale I am left wondering if I am supposed to start with the Armored Princess base game, or if the "Orcs on the March" is the way to begin? Orcs on the March is described as an expansion to the original world, and if it duplicates the content from the basic game then there's no way I'm going to want to play through it all twice.

Quintin_Stone wrote:

Puce, the problem with no respawn I ran into in my mage game was that late in the game all the monsters I could find were rated as difficult for my group. So every fight I was taking losses that cost more to replace than I was getting in income. But I had no choice because I had to press forward and there were no other monsters to fight.
Should I have filled my ranks with more hordes of super-cheap troops, like peasants?

Parking your favorite troops in a castle and using some weaker troops can definitely help to offset losses when you get to the late game. It's also great to use spells that take some of the heat off your troops; spells like Phantom are great to create additional units to park between your units and the enemies, and traps are excellent to slow down the enemy advance.
Any troops that can generate other units help with losses as well. I loved using Dryads to create a huge stack of thorns, then using Gift to let her cast it again the next turn. Teleporting a huge stack of summoned thorns into the middle of the enemy ranks takes the heat off of your units and can give you the time you need to wear down the enemy troops to less threatening levels.

Elycion wrote:

So having bought the AP+Crossworlds bundle on sale I am left wondering if I am supposed to start with the Armored Princess base game, or if the "Orcs on the March" is the way to begin? Orcs on the March is described as an expansion to the original world, and if it duplicates the content from the basic game then there's no way I'm going to want to play through it all twice.

Think of Crossworlds as DLC for Armored Princess. It uses the same world/story, but the Orcs on the March campagin opens up after a certain point in AP. Start with orcs on the march and you'll get the content from both.

Does anyone know of a good guide for this game and the expansion? I'm kinda stuck with a bad army, no reinforcements, and surrounded by Very Strong and Lethal baddies.

Grenn wrote:

Does anyone know of a good guide for this game and the expansion? I'm kinda stuck with a bad army, no reinforcements, and surrounded by Very Strong and Lethal baddies.

A week later and just a couple of hours into Legend, I'm having similar problems -- I keep running into enemy forces that are either massive, or otherwise excessively tough (i.e., the boss fight in the werewolf cave).

My hero is now a level 4 Mage and relies heavily on Fireball. Would starting over with a more leadership-focused class make sense, or is this just how the game works and there's something else I should be doing?

I had a much easier time of it with the fighter/warrior/bigarmy character, after failing with the wizard in much the same way as described above.

I picked up the game again last night, and finally cleared out those werewolves. And bought a cow for a talking plant, and did a few other things. I think I'm getting into it.

Added some hours later:
Then I ran into a group of several hundred Thorns, and after they wiped out my army, decided to see what life was like as a warrior. And, yes, it's a lot easier -- not only can the warrior command a larger army than the mage, but his higher combat stats mean that each of his troops fights better.

What benefit is there to playing as a mage?

Two spells per turn.

Tamren wrote:

What benefit is there to playing as a mage?

You get bam-wicked spells, you lose fewer troops (you have fewer troops) so money is less of a problem, and did I mention spells? They're bam-wicked. It's been a while, but I seem to remember that Mages eventually can cast 2 spells a turn, so that doubles the effectiveness of what you're doing.

It can be pretty tough until you get the big area of effect spells, though. Armies can be tough to knock down when you can only hit one stack at a time.

Ok. I've been rocking the mage. And I found a decent stratagy to start off with. I sell all my armies and just buy as many Inquisitors as I can. Then, I head to Scarlet Wind and get a few Archmages. I split them into two groups. Between magic shield and ressurection, I was able to survive for a while until I could get some guard droids and repair bots. And after kiting the one boss in the mines away and getting the stone, I also got some Paladins. Then ran around searching for easy fights, and learning all the magic I could, I somehow got the 50 battles without losing any troops achievement which adds a total of 1600 leadership.

Now, I just have to find stronger troops that focus more on dealing damage rather than surviving. But I'm using all kinds of magic. I recommend leveling up chaos magic and distortion magic so traps are more effective and your fireballs hit harder.

For any of you who like the game, the KB team put together a really fun Facebook game together - Kings Bounty: Legions. It's got the same combat and army building dynamics as the original game, but a different story and series of quests to fulfill. It's nice to have a version of the game that you can access from anywhere. If you're interested, check it out.

http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=207689995920190&sk=info

Yeah, the FB game is actually a very faithful recreation of the full game, albeit without the map touring. Looks really nice, too.

The new (modified) site is live for the upcoming King's Bounty - Warriors of the North. There's some information about the new school of magic, information about the new map, etc. The release date is "sometime in Autumn."

I just started playing this game again as a Warrior and I'm having a lot of fun. I'm working on clearing out the graveyard and I have two spirits of rage up and running. My only gripe is that I accidentally made a character without a name. Every place that would normally show my name is just blank. Oops.

So if Crossworlds is an expansion to Armoured Princess how does it integrate? Do I need to have it installed at the same time? Does it just extend the campaign or do I need to make a new character to play it?

Tamren wrote:

I just started playing this game again as a Warrior and I'm having a lot of fun. I'm working on clearing out the graveyard and I have two spirits of rage up and running. My only gripe is that I accidentally made a character without a name. Every place that would normally show my name is just blank. Oops.

So if Crossworlds is an expansion to Armoured Princess how does it integrate? Do I need to have it installed at the same time? Does it just extend the campaign or do I need to make a new character to play it?

Crossworlds expands the world of Armored Princess; you'll need to have AP installed for Crossworlds to function properly. Starting a new Crossworlds "Orcs on the March" game will give you access to all of AP's content as well as the new campaign/area from Crossworlds.

Ah ok great.

King's Bounty: Warriors of the North: October 26th!

...probably. One of the 1C administrators posted this:

October 26th worldwide (Steam and possibly other digital stores).

Now if we just get some news on the impending Space Rangers: A War Apart (playable build was available earlier this month at a gaming convention in Moscow) my day will be complete!

WHOOOOO!!

Steam pre-order confirmed the date; October 26th.

Order King’s Bounty: Warriors of the North and get a free upgrade to the Valhalla Edition and a free copy of Fantasy Wars!

Valhalla Edition features a special Valhalla Armor Set that includes unique in-game items not available in any other version. Combined together these artifacts give additional boost to character’s attributes.

This special edition also includes digital bonuses - high resolution exclusive artwork and desktop wallpapers available in all popular sizes.

This October has been ridiculous in terms of game releases I've been looking forward to playing; Dishonored, XCOM, Walking Dead Episode Four, Warriors of the North - it's more or less a war on my wallet. I honestly can't remember a month with as many releases that excited me.

You're right, it is ridiculous. 2012 is looking to be quite the year for gaming.

Squeal! King's Bounty, Warriors of the North is now available. I'm still waiting on STEAM to download the game, but it's probably already in the greasy mitts of those of you with faster connections.

I hope we get the amusing characters/intriguing quests of the series, and a personal dialog to the main conflicts. King's Bounty is one of the rare few turn based strategy games that I've enjoyed, because it's not all about min/maxing (though I guess you can play it that way if you're a robotic monster) - there's plenty of flavor, story, and zooming in to look at birds/fish on the overland map.

Though I'm sad to have to play Olaf (I'd hoped that I could have been a Royal Thorn, or a triumphant Devilfish, or a mushroom monster with self-awakening, and not a silly viking), I'm confident we'll see some funny/creative/non-combat avenues of exploration granted by the first King's Bounty. Any quest resolved without a fight is all-right in my book! I hope we get a few non-combat/cheeky missions like we did in the past.

Downloaded it last night but didn't get a chance to boot it up for more than a couple of minutes before bed. Going to have a proper look at it now.

The terrible (i.e: entertaining) dialogue seems to be back at least

I do love a good Kings Bounty game.

I still have to beat The Legend. I'm pretty far in it. Loved the game but got a little burned out. That seems to be a bigger problem as I get older.

Puce Moose wrote:

Any quest resolved without a fight is all-right in my book! I hope we get a few non-combat/cheeky missions like we did in the past.

The first side quest chain you get is pretty much this (although it does end in a fight), so it's off to a good start

stevenmack wrote:
Puce Moose wrote:

Any quest resolved without a fight is all-right in my book! I hope we get a few non-combat/cheeky missions like we did in the past.

The first side quest chain you get is pretty much this (although it does end in a fight), so it's off to a good start

Yeh! And so far, most of the quests seem to involve beer in some way or another, so that's a promising sign.
I've played about two hours so far today and it's been fun; definitely "more of the same", but when the base formula is this fun I don't mind.
I just picked up my first soothsayer; those guys seem to pack a nice punch. That ice storm ability is quite handy early on.

I really want to play this but I can't bring myself to pay for it just yet. I'm not even 2/3 the way through the original game and I haven't touched Crossworlds at all.

Tamren wrote:

I really want to play this but I can't bring myself to pay for it just yet. I'm not even 2/3 the way through the original game and I haven't touched Crossworlds at all.

Speaking of this, if I have both AP and Crossworlds, do I have to play the former before the latter? I.e. is Crossworlds a "sequel" type of expansion pack or more of the "additional content" variety? Thanks.

Grumpicus wrote:
Tamren wrote:

I really want to play this but I can't bring myself to pay for it just yet. I'm not even 2/3 the way through the original game and I haven't touched Crossworlds at all.

Speaking of this, if I have both AP and Crossworlds, do I have to play the former before the latter? I.e. is Crossworlds a "sequel" type of expansion pack or more of the "additional content" variety? Thanks.

Crossworlds expands the world of Armored Princess, turning it into basically an "Armored Princess Deluxe"; you'll need to have AP installed for Crossworlds to function properly. Starting a new Crossworlds "Orcs on the March" game will give you access to all of AP's content as well as the new campaign/area from Crossworlds.

I think it works a bit differently on Steam. I own both Armoured Princess and Crossworlds but I only have the latter installed. When I boot up Crossworlds it shows a selection of campaigns and gives you the option to play the original campaign without the new additions if you want.