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KB: Warriors of the North - Preview @ Strategy Informer

Strategy Informer checked out Kings Bounty: Warriors of the North and are positive with some remarks.

Quote:

It’s an incredibly detailed and satisfying combat system, which makes your choice of class all the more important. The warrior Viking brings melee bonuses and a measure of rage-filled leadership, the Paladin-like Skald’s charisma can draw more units to his banner and resurrect casualties, while the Soothsayer makes up for his relative lack of forces with devastating magic options. The problem, as fans of the previous games will be all too familiar with, is that the entire combat portion of the game remains woefully unbalanced.

With no visual indication of the enemy composition when roaming the environment, the player can never predict whether the ensuing battle is going to be a genuine test of their tactical wits, or a lop-sided affair that sees them eliminate the opposition in a handful of turns or get their backsides handed to them by a random, obscenely over-powered unit in the enemy ranks. With the punishment for defeat being a return to your stronghold and the loss of all your precious forces, requiring you to build them back up from scratch, the game can quickly descend into an exercise in toe-curling frustration.

It’s a shame, because the additions Katauri Interactive have made for Warriors of the North, if not game-changing, encourage experimentation to use to their full potential. Between the elaborate threefold skill tree, the new Rune Magic school - packed with suitably ice-themed attacks - and in particular the Valkyrie companions there’s a lot for any fan of tactical turn-based play to get their teeth into.

More information.

Save spamming is the solution, sadly…

Quote:

With no visual indication of the enemy composition when roaming the environment, the player can never predict whether the ensuing battle is going to be a genuine test of their tactical wits, or a lop-sided affair that sees them eliminate the opposition in a handful of turns or get their backsides handed to them by a random, obscenely over-powered unit in the enemy ranks.

Huh? So does this mean they got rid of the Scout skill, or did the reviewer just not realize it was there.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JDR13 (Post 1061165767)

Huh? So does this mean they got rid of the Scout skill, or did the reviewer just not realize it was there.

I'm guessing the latter :)

Me, too. I guess he's either not a fan of this kind of gameplay, wasn't paid, or is a Newbie to that series.

That paragraph has been changed to state the opposite of what it did originally :) -

With the punishment for defeat being a return to your stronghold and the loss of all your precious forces, requiring you to build them back up from scratch, you have to be wary when choosing to stand your ground. Fortunately, the new development combo of Lab-13 and an in-house 1C team have improved the visual signifiers of your enemy’s relative strength as they roam the land, with information relayed as to whether they are weaker or stronger than your own force. You’ll also want to invest in upgrading the Scouting skill as it will allow you to ascertain the exact composition of enemy forces.

I wonder how long he actually played before writing the first version of that review. :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alrik Fassbauer (Post 1061165854)

Me, too. I guess he's either not a fan of this kind of gameplay, wasn't paid, or is a Newbie to that series.

I've marked what I think just happened. ;)

Jest spotted that if you preorder the game on Steam you get it for -10% price, inside the game you'll receive some "who cares" special item set, and you get some "never heard of" strategy game for free. Meh.
Okay I admit, I got spoiled with free civ5 when preordered Xcom…

LOL ya the free Civ 5 w/ the Xcom preorder is what sucked me in, too. Always did want to play it. Speaking of King's Bounty, are the prior games in this series worth checking out?

-Carn

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carnifex (Post 1061166016)

Speaking of King's Bounty, are the prior games in this series worth checking out?

Absolutely. Start with KB: The Legend.

For strange reasons I can say with 100% certainty that the scout skill is in fact there and as in previous games you can click on the enemy and it will indicate if it is easy hard and so forth. Nothing new here. There are quite some changes so I do not want to speak with much haste other than to comment that it is very different. The number of achievements is greatly increased and until a bit more time that is all I can say for sure. Oh and it seems at first some what more difficult than the previous game.

Quote:

Originally Posted by you (Post 1061166095)

I found that 'difficulty' depends a lot on what class you play, and luck (as some enemies and available troops are random per game), so it's subjective in a way.

Well yes difficulty always depend on the class you play. I play no-loss games with crossroad on impossible with all classes and for legend I cannot do noloss but again impossible games with all classes. At start of the game mage can be not so hard if you find godo spells but warriros tend to have an easy path esp later in the game.

For this installment so much is new I am not sure how it will turn out.