Frayed Knights: Ditch the "2"?

Okay. Yes, the game is taking forever, but it's making progress, and I have to start ramping up marketing efforts so people might actually, you know, KNOW about this game besides the hardcore folks here.

One of the questions I'm facing is whether or not to keep the "2" in the title. "Frayed Knights 2: The Khan of Wrath" or just "Frayed Knights: The Khan of Wrath."

Why keep the "2"? Well, there's a little bit of a parody reference for us old farts. And it makes it clearer that chronologically this game follows The Skull of S'makh-Daon.

But is that important. On the reasons to drop the 2… mainly, I just don't want people to think they should play the first game before trying out the second. In many cases, they can't as Khan of Wrath will be available on new platforms that the first one, regrettably, couldn't get ported to (We tried… )

I'm very proud of The Skull of S'makh-Daon, and I still think it's awesome, but… the second is turning out better in pretty much every way IMO. Much better engine, cleaner interface, better story, better visuals, stronger & more interesting game mechanics, easier to get into, etc. The story is pretty self-contained, referencing the first game as backstory but not really depending on it.

And… let's face it… while I'd love for the sequel to spur sales of the original, I really, REALLY don't want the sequel to have its sales constrained by the original.

So… yeah. I'm inclined to drop the "2" but I wanted to hear back from people and see what they thought.

I'd say leave it out for basically the reasons you mention. If someone hasn't played Frayed Knights and sees Frayed Knights 2, they might not buy it right away. They'll be thinking, maybe I'll try that someday but I want to play the first one first. Since part 2 is much better looking, they might be thrown off by the graphics of 1. Then they see another game that isn't a sequel and buy it instead. The folks who already played the first game, know this is game two in the series. As long as the game description says it is the second game in the series, I think that should be good.

Why not call it "A Frayed Two Knights: The Khan of Wrath" to put a "2" in the title as well as even more word plays? Just kidding.

I agree with both of you for the same reasons and would leave the 2 out.

edit: Here's the image RampantCoyote wanted to post:



(The forum doesn't like too long image URLs, it works with Google's URL Shortener)

At first I thought this was a sequel to the joke:

A string walks into a bar with a few friends and orders a beer. The bartender says, "I'm sorry, but we don't serve strings here."

The string goes back to his table. He ties himself in a loop and messes up the top of his hair. He walks back up to the bar and orders a beer.

The bartender squints at him and says, "Hey, aren't you a string?"

The string says, "Nope, I'm a frayed knot."

For me it doesn't matter which title I am going to buy immediately at release but I think that ditching the 2 does allow some freedom.

Think Ultima, think Wizardry, think Might and Magic (just to name a few). What do they all have in common? YES, a NUMBER!!!!! I didn't play all of them and others in their chronological order most times, but I enjoyed them anyway. I'm OLD SKule, I like my numbers!!!!

Corwin said:

Think Ultima, think Wizardry, think Might and Magic (just to name a few). What do they all have in common? YES, a NUMBER!!!!! I didn't play all of them and others in their chronological order most times, but I enjoyed them anyway. I'm OLD SKule, I like my numbers!!!!

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in my best CM impersonation...That's because you have three in your years while the rest have only two

This is a no brainer.....the two stays.

I'd say ditch it, for purely cold marketing reasons as you mention.

But if you gotta use it, do it using Roman ('II') style. That implies 'next iteration' where as Arabic ('2') implies 'next part of the story' thanks to Hollywood convention. It's cutting hairs, I know, but that's always been my impression.

I'm the kind of guy who would hesitate to buy # 2 in a series if I can't get my hands on # 1. So, I suggest that you ditch the 2.

That said, it doesn't change a thing for me since I already bought # 1 and will buy # 2.

Honestly, I think you should keep the "2".

I think it goes well with the subtitle, and it'll cause a lot of people to check out the original game as well.

JDR13 said:

Honestly, I think you should keep the "2".

I think it goes well with the subtitle, and it'll cause a lot of people to check out the original game as well.

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What he said.

Seeing a "2" will enable people to know there is a "1", that they may not of known about otherwise. I am sure most people will check a games FAQ to see if you need to have played the original game to play this one.

This may be less true in this day of watered down sequel money-grabs, but when I see a continuing franchise, the thought that comes to mind is, "this was successful enough to warrant a sequel, maybe I should try it out."

Drithius said:

This may be less true in this day of watered down sequel money-grabs, but when I see a continuing franchise, the thought that comes to mind is, "this was successful enough to warrant a sequel, maybe I should try it out."

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My thoughts as well. The argument that you can't buy "chapter 2" until you've done "chapter 1" does have weight, but Drithius' comment carries more weight in my book. As Icefire mentioned, there are ways to get it out there that playing the first isn't mandatory for playing the second.

Mosaic said:

But if you gotta use it, do it using Roman ('II') style. That implies 'next iteration' where as Arabic ('2') implies 'next part of the story' thanks to Hollywood convention. It's cutting hairs, I know, but that's always been my impression.

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Plus the three big series all had Roman numerals, too: Ultima, Wizardry and Might & Magic. So if Frayed Knights gets its share of sequels and iterations, it could be put right next to this exalted list.

Though it looks like the poll isn't of much help in the decision-making process anyway, eh?

I wasn't going to make a decision based on the poll alone, but if it was going overwhelmingly in one direction or the other it would have been a solid data-point.

As it is, the comments are more valuable for gauging what people really think. Which is great.

I just figured that as things are starting to gel, I need to start working on marketing stuff, and for that to happen I ought to make a decision what the final title will be. I hear that can be important.

I'd agree with using roman numerals as well. The quicker you slap a II on it, the quicker we can be playing it!!!

Two Frayed two be Knights?

I voted for no number and reading the comments has me changing my mind.