King's Bounty II - First Reviews
 

King's Bounty II will be released tomorrow here are the first reviews:

PC Gamer - King's Bounty 2 does both tactics and RPG, but neither well - Score 59/100

Rock Paper Shotgun - Good strategy packaged with a baggy RPG

Push Square - Turn-Based Battler Not Fit for a King - Score 5/10

More information.

Uh oh…

I was looking forward to playing this tomorrow. Still getting it but this hurts because I love the series.

Oh boy, I didn't expect that. What a punch in the stomach… :(

I hope Disciples: Liberation does fare better. I've been considering buying it.

What I expected, after knowing that they didn't allow any gameplay videos before today. Very fishy.

But it was also expected because King's Bounty was always in the category of turn based strategy games, like Heroes of Might & Magic. The story was always ignored, no one cared. And they decided to double down with the story and RPG aspects, that just waters down the experience that the players want: a real sequel to King's Bounty. Not this hybrid where people will have to endure gameplay and story they don't care about and will be bored, to reach the tactic combat.

I did well not to pre-order. Maybe I'll get it in a STEAM sale in a few months. With Pathfinder WOTR and Encased being released in a little more 1-2 weeks from now, it's just not worth it to invest in a subpar game now.

With this game I don't care about reviews, I just want it.
However, after seeing PCGamer, who crowned MGS5 as goty over TW3, stating KB2 is a mediocre game, somehow I believe it's much more than just mediocre.

And here's a review that states it's less than mediocre (4/10):
https://culturedvultures.com/kings-bounty-2-pc-review/
Then here's one that loves the game (9/10):
http://www.gamersheroes.com/honest-g…it-for-a-king/
Who should I trust? I guess - me. ;)

ouch, was hoping for better

Yikes, that line from PC Gamer is pretty gnarly, and not a complement!

It already had got bad press, I'm not surprised. The only thing that pisses me is the permadeath, so I would need to play it with a trainer…

Disappointing, but somehow I'm not surprised. The RPS reviews does make the strategy parts of it sound somehow still appealing despite it's flaws. Might be worth checking out when the discount gets high enough.

Totally agree… honestly, reading a variety of reviews, I'm left thinking I'll enjoy this. Might not be a good as earlier KBs but a number of things they criticize don't strike me as issues for my preferences.

Yep but like one member told me on the movie thread, "No one cares about your opinion fool. You might like a mediocre product but that doesn't make it a great movie."

He was of course dead wrong and can still kiss my behind.:biggrin:

Anyhow it's amazing how even I enjoy a lot of games, movies, and books most consider trash. At the end of the day all that matters is you enjoyed the product. The end.

I didn't have real high expectations based on what I'd seen, but those scores are still surprising.

Hopefully there's still some fun to be had for the people who were looking forward to it.

Since when is japanese hentai - trash? :P

I was looking forward to it since I was a big fan of the previous games. It was like HOMM without the city building aspect. I think I will wait a while longer on this after seeing the reviews.

Initial Steam reviews are sitting at 37% positive. Most reviews are from people who've only played an hour or two, but considering the critic's reviews, this is looking really dubious.

Was I Nostradamus, when I predicted this game will flop? Nope.. It looked sooOo out of place there was almost zero doubt this will FCKN FAIL! Kings Bounty I. remains king!!

Well, the question is if it gets negative reviews because it's not a true successor to KB1 or because it's just a bad game.

If it's the former I couldn't care less about the negative reviews.

You predict that everything will flop. Broken clocks, etc etc.

When you say KB1 are you referring to Kings Bounty: The Legend or the original King's Bounty from New World Computing?

It's supposed to be a sequel to the latter, but I think part of the problem is that game is so old that many gamers know nothing about it. Most KB fans were probably hoping for something more similar to The Legend and Armored Princess.

Sooo…anyone tried it yet? This *would* have been a day 1 purchase if they hadn't strayed so far from Armoured princess, but this bland colourless look does dothing for me. Since the reviews are less than stellar, I'll wait for some Watch opinions and they maybe consider buying it if they're positive.

I was refering to the most recent one, so Kings Bounty: The Legend.

Same here. Money saved.

But apparingly there's a lot of demand for games with a darker and "non-comic" look, like Dark Souls, maybe.

Looks like a fashion to me. Or, a member of that parade of games fitting into the "dark & gritty" phase.

What are you talking about.
I'm 20 hours in and can't stop.
Yes it has it's problems (outdated engine and models, slow moving + useless horse, too many small caches unlike predecessors) but it's fun, it's challenging and it has a fair share of humor.

I have no idea why are you mentioning Dark Souls.
KB2 general style is not dark&gritty (except certain zones, won't spoil) and you can't grind2win here - nothing ever respawns.
Choices matter both in your skill tree and units available for recruitment, but I can't say if the game finale depends on it.