RPGWatch Feature - Konung 2 Retrospective

Myrthos

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Fluent goes back in time to play Konung 2, which was released in 2004, to check if he feels this game is worth playing 10 years later.

So, what is Konung 2? Konung 2 is a game from 2004; the second game in the Scandinavian-themed "Konung" series of RPGs that features a blend of familiar RPG elements with a bit of settlement management, ala a simulation-style game. It's not a 50/50 split of the 2 genres, I would say it leans more towards the RPG side of the spectrum, enough so that I can safely call this a deep RPG. That said, how you actually play the game is largely up to you. You can focus more on building up your villages and protecting them, or you can largely skip those aspects of the game and focus on the RPG side. Either way, the game is expansive and the sandbox is large enough to allow you to choose your own path and define your own gameplay.

Konung 2 is an isometric, open-world RPG where you traverse a large world map that interconnects villages that have smaller, local maps. Travelling between villages is sort of a simulation style, where you click a spot on the map and you watch the icon of your group move towards it. You have to tread carefully, though, as you will more than likely get ambushed along the way. If you have a high Pathfinding skill, the chance of that happening is a bit less. You'll never truly feel overwhelmed with random encounters, unless you're traveling in a dangerous area with poor Pathfinding, in which case the random encounter amount jumps up a bit. By that time, though, you will be thankful for the fights as they help level-up your ragtag group of adventurers.
More information.
 
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I bought this game at Fluents urging and am pleasantly surprised. It ramps up slowly and I experienced some odd satisfaction from not being able to kill everything at level 1. In fact 50 seconds after starting the game I was faced with spiders that poisoned me (I couldn't cute yet) and skeletons that keep raising when killed with your only weapon.

It made the first time I killed something actually mean something! I felt like I had achieved something other than. ... attack group.. win.
 
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I bought this game at Fluents urging and am pleasantly surprised. It ramps up slowly and I experienced some odd satisfaction from not being able to kill everything at level 1. In fact 50 seconds after starting the game I was faced with spiders that poisoned me (I couldn't cute yet) and skeletons that keep raising when killed with your only weapon.

It made the first time I killed something actually mean something! I felt like I had achieved something other than. … attack group.. win.

That feeling gets even better some hours later in the game when you've got a party of decent strength. Suddenly you're clearing entire maps and characters are leveling up and getting stronger. It's pretty rewarding if you stick with it but I can see many giving up very early because of the slow pace.
 
Yes the beginning was slow and it took a bit to get used to graphics.
 
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Yes the beginning was slow and it took a bit to get used to graphics.

Yep, it was like that for me, too. The beginning was slow and the overall pace, even some 40 hours later, is still slow. But in the beginning when you have no party members and can't harm a fly, that is when I think many would give up. It gets much better later on, though.

Graphics wise, it isn't the greatest, but I really enjoy that style of isometric graphics, so it looks good enough for me. I was just looking screenshots of Konung 3 and thinking that I enjoyed the look of the first 2 Konung games more. Heck, I even prefer Baldur's Gate graphics over 95% of graphics in today's games. Something about that isometric look just screams "deep RPG!!" at me. :)

Glad you got some enjoyment from Konung 2, Wisdom. I hope others give it a shot as well!
 
I have a Konung game somewhere ... but never played it.

*searching* - hmm -> I have too many game boxes :)
 
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I have Konung 2 in my backlog. I wish Konung was available on the online sites, as I like to start from the beginning. Thanks for the review!
 
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I have Konung 2 in my backlog. I wish Konung was available on the online sites, as I like to start from the beginning. Thanks for the review!

I picked up a boxed copy of Konung 1 for $5 on Ebay. It was like-new condition and works great on my Windows 7 64-bit machine. The game didn't work at first, but after a bit of tweaking it plays great now. And to be honest, I really have no clue what made it finally work, but I'm happy it does! :) )

I have a Konung game somewhere … but never played it.

*searching* - hmm -> I have too many game boxes :)

Hah. Pretty surprised you haven't played it, though, seeing as you are the old-school RPG expert around these parts :).

I just bought a boxed copy of Konung 1, and to my surprise, it actually works in Windows 7 64-bit! Awesome stuff.

A bit off-topic, but I just started a boxed copy collection of RPGs, and my first 4 purchases were:

Diablo II Battle Chest (comes with expansion and strategy guide)
Wizard's War Chest (Etherlords 1 & 2 + Evil Islands: Curse of the Lost Soul)
Drakensang Complete (both Drakensang games and the expansion)
Konung 1 (sadly, not the big box version that comes with a nice booklet/manual)

Anyway, it's fun collecting boxed copies of RPGs. If anyone would like to donate a boxed copy of an RPG they have to me, feel free to contact me via PM :).
 
Evil Islands and Drakensang are very good choices!
 
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drakensang (both of them ) are good. Btw this game has a 35 on metacritic and all negative reviews on amazon. I haven't played so I can't comment but when a game has this many negative reviews I begin to question if it is worth the time to give a try.
 
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I discovered today that I have Konung 2 and 3 in my GamersGate library as part of a 1C bundle that I purchased a while ago.

I installed Konung 2 and played for about an hour. To say that it's rough around the edges would be an understatement.

Is there any way to pause during combat? I though it had RTwP combat, but apparently it's only real-time?
 
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I picked this up for a song back in the day ($20) at Best Buy based on it being a hidden gem overseas.

How unbelievably wrong! I could not stand this game. It felt like an indie title for the 1990's.

I don't say this out of disrespect of your experience but I did not like this game at all.
 
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Nice review! Thanks for that.
I was never sure if I wanted to put the game on my to-play list. Now I did.
 
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Evil Islands and Drakensang are very good choices!
I feel that Evil Islands is likely the most underrated RPG of all time. The crafting of spells in that game was just unbelievably fun. Lots of games can claim to be underrated, but I think a very small percentage of RPGers have played this one. I would highly recommend it.
 
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@Jaguar
I'll write reviews of Evil Islands and Albion for felipepepe's CRPG book.
I hope these lesser known underdogs will get some attention.
 
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Konung,heh? One of worst rpg series i ever played (all three games). they really don't f*cking know how to make good rpgs here in Russia.
IMG00174.jpg
 
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@Jaguar
I'll write reviews of Evil Islands and Albion for felipepepe's CRPG book.
I hope these lesser known underdogs will get some attention.
I hadn't heard of this, but it looks awesome. I own Matt Barton's book, and I always go to it whenever I beat an old game (which isn't too often, unfortunately). When I do, I am always disappointed at the somewhat superficial overview of the games. (Don't get me wrong - I really like Matt and his chats, and I am still glad I have his books). Still, I would enjoy a more reasoned analysis of the games and some little known facts. Best of luck on this project.
 
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drakensang (both of them ) are good. Btw this game has a 35 on metacritic and all negative reviews on amazon. I haven't played so I can't comment but when a game has this many negative reviews I begin to question if it is worth the time to give a try.

Bad reviews aside, I'd say it's definitely worth it. It's kept me entertained for some 40 hours and that's no small feat. I am close to beating the game (I think) and I feel it was definitely worth my time. Your mileage may vary, of course, but I wouldn't pay too much attention to negative reviews. I think most of them only played for a short time before giving up, and the game doesn't really get that good until some 5 hours +.

I discovered today that I have Konung 2 and 3 in my GamersGate library as part of a 1C bundle that I purchased a while ago.

I installed Konung 2 and played for about an hour. To say that it's rough around the edges would be an understatement.

Is there any way to pause during combat? I though it had RTwP combat, but apparently it's only real-time?

It is rough around the edges, no doubt about it. Sadly, there is no way to pause, so combat is a bit more hack n' slash in that regard. I would say combat is one of the weaker points of the game, but still okay. It's not Baldur's Gate but it's decent.

As I said in the article, the tactics of combat come into play with positioning and not getting swarmed. Also, you have to be a certain level to really enjoy combat with tougher monsters, or else you just get slaughtered repeatedly :). Also, healing is a bit tactical and adds another dimension to the combat, but the combat itself is definitely not the best, but it's satisfying nonetheless (especially when you can actually kill things :) )

I picked this up for a song back in the day ($20) at Best Buy based on it being a hidden gem overseas.

How unbelievably wrong! I could not stand this game. It felt like an indie title for the 1990's.

I don't say this out of disrespect of your experience but I did not like this game at all.

I can see why some wouldn't like the game, but for a fan of the old-school, methodical experience, I think this game would be good for that type of gamer. It does seem like a bit of an indie game as well, but there's definitely enough depth to keep hardcore RPG fans hooked for a little while.

Nice review! Thanks for that.
I was never sure if I wanted to put the game on my to-play list. Now I did.

Nice! Give it a try. As I said, it's more for the old-school type of RPG gamer that doesn't mind a bit of a slower-paced experience. Those looking for quick thrills should just skip it.
 
It is rough around the edges, no doubt about it. Sadly, there is no way to pause, so combat is a bit more hack n' slash in that regard. I would say combat is one of the weaker points of the game, but still okay. It's not Baldur's Gate but it's decent.

Ironically, Konung 2 is erroneously listed as using the Infinity Engine on Wikipedia. The same also goes for Konung 1.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konung_2:_Blood_of_Titans

Obviously an error on the part of whoever created the entry for it. It would have been nice if it actually did use the IE though.
 
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Ironically, Konung 2 is erroneously listed as using the Infinity Engine on Wikipedia. The same also goes for Konung 1.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konung_2:_Blood_of_Titans

Obviously an error on the part of whoever created the entry for it. It would have been nice if it actually did use the IE though.

Interesting. I'm not an engine expert so I have no idea which engine is which, but I know that Konung 2 does not feel like any of the Infinity Engine games I've played. It feels like it's own thing.

The worst part about Konung 2 is the fact there is just no information about it online. Even reviews are pretty scarce. It's just one of those games that time has forgotten.
 
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