Knights of the Chalice 2 - A Chance of Gaming Heaven

Originally Posted by mercy
Sanctus Reach: Defense of Fortress 26

Wrong thread?

I was wondering what he was going on about…

I went to download Dorateen's now available mod Harkenwold for KotC2 today and in doing so took the opportunity to download the latest update for the KotC2, version 1.15.

The version this thread takes from is version 1.08 and was a 747mb download. I was quite shocked to find out that version 1.15 was 2.2gb to download. So there's been a tripling of mb content since I did this thread.

I've no idea what all the new content does and is like, but I shan't be updating on that just yet, but I will update the thread after I've played Harkenwold, though that may not be very soon. Probably within the next couple of months.

If anyone ends up playing Harkenwold before that, feel free to dump your thoughts here.

Originally Posted by lackblogger
I went to download Dorateen's now available mod Harkenwold for KotC2 today and in doing so took the opportunity to download the latest update for the KotC2, version 1.15.

The version this thread takes from is version 1.08 and was a 747mb download. I was quite shocked to find out that version 1.15 was 2.2gb to download. So there's been a tripling of mb content since I did this thread.

I've no idea what all the new content does and is like, but I shan't be updating on that just yet, but I will update the thread after I've played Harkenwold, though that may not be very soon. Probably within the next couple of months.

If anyone ends up playing Harkenwold before that, feel free to dump your thoughts here.

Well he certainly put some work into but i have trouble even in early game stage. The party has no gear and no way to acquire anything at all so far, which means depending your party composition you will suffer. Early game combat encounter seems ok and in line with usual D20 sessions, with unlimited rests then its getting tough, very tough .
For exemple some encounter throw you on a different map with the wrong marching order, so if you have low initiative you cant place squishies behind the melees they go down immediately . Then there's a scripted ambush annihilating the group in two rounds.

Are you talking about Augury of Chaos or Harkenwold?

A possibly odd thing has happened?

This time when I downloaded the game, the 1.15 version above, I discovered at the weekend that it's now a rar file rather than a normal set-up-the-game file that you just have to click to start the opening process.

So when I double clicked the rar file my old computer asked me what I wanted to open it with. To which I had no idea.

Harkenwold seems to be in a rar file as well.

Is this normal?

How do you lot normally open your rar files?

Originally Posted by lackblogger
How do you lot normally open your rar files?

With WinRAR. It's an archive like a zip file. WinZip might also open them, but not sure. I use WinRAR for all my archiving needs.

Originally Posted by wiretripped
With WinRAR. It's an archive like a zip file. WinZip might also open them, but not sure. I use WinRAR for all my archiving needs.

Yeah, I've added that to my stick to try when the time comes. Just makes me suspicious is all. What with never having this happened before. Sucks that I have to add bloatware just to do something that isn't normally required.

Originally Posted by lackblogger
Are you talking about Augury of Chaos or Harkenwold?

I think he is talking about Hearkenwold. There are weapons and armor available in the starting castle if you explore around. It is a very open world in Hearkenwold so be careful about the order of areas that you explore (lots of risk-reward opportunities for those so inclined). Hearkenwold was also ported from IceBlink Engine to FRUA, DC, and now KotC2. Dorateen is constantly expanding the campaign.

Originally Posted by wiretripped
With WinRAR. It's an archive like a zip file. WinZip might also open them, but not sure. I use WinRAR for all my archiving needs.

7zip is quite good too.

Originally Posted by Pladio
7zip is quite good too.

I've run into situations when WinRAR or WinZip didn't work, but 7Zip always works for everything.

A quick question for anyone who might have already played the Harkenwold mod:

I can't seem to find anyone who acts as a trader in the castle. Does that unlock when or if you find the blacksmith or have I just completely missed something or someone?

I think you have to get to the dwarven city or the city to the south. They don't sell a lot of items and most things have to be found.

Ah, I see.

I'm all up for finding items, it's my preferred system over buying stuff, but what I'm getting concerned about is gradually filling inventories and not knowing if I'm supposed to just dump all the excess stuff or keep lugging it around or leave it all in a stash somewhere, etc.

So according to this video the game somehow went from top view to isometric. What happened?

I finally thought I'd retry this (v1.15) …either I'm missing something, or the start is even harder than before? I am in finchbury, no way to access the sewers to start, a bunch of quests that I can't seem to get to above ground (except for bandit I killed). All i can find is a cave with giant spiders, incl spider queen (each CR2 or higher …I am level 1…and avg hp are 8-12…spiders have 30 - 47). Am I expected to kill them before I can actually start the game proper? What am I missing?

Well, turns out I just had to sleep a few times before various events were triggered. I think that has now changed in the new version. anyway, I'm done with KoTC2. It's just not that enjoyable to play (for me, YMMV) - even on the new easier 'normal' mode. Easy mode is too easy, but even in 'normal' mode when enemies are crippled somewhat many fights are extremely long and if you make one misstep or don't use some specific trick, you've had it. Any *every* enemy caster - an dthere are usually several - uses web/quicksand/entange….he who wins initiative, wins. Anyway, each to their own - maybe I'll check out the module that follows augury of chaos.

Personally, I will go back to the game once it gets on Steam. Too lazy nowadays for the old-school update procedure and given the comments, the game at the moment feels very unfinished.

Originally Posted by booboo
Well, turns out I just had to sleep a few times before various events were triggered. I think that has now changed in the new version. anyway, I'm done with KoTC2. It's just not that enjoyable to play (for me, YMMV) - even on the new easier 'normal' mode. Easy mode is too easy, but even in 'normal' mode when enemies are crippled somewhat many fights are extremely long and if you make one misstep or don't use some specific trick, you've had it. Any *every* enemy caster - an dthere are usually several - uses web/quicksand/entange….he who wins initiative, wins. Anyway, each to their own - maybe I'll check out the module that follows augury of chaos.

Yes, the Augury of Chaos mod is somewhat of a dead duck at the moment, suitable only for that 0.1% of players who have that intrinsic determination to complete insanely difficult content by optimising the most optimisable aspects of a ruleset. Sort of like those old fan mods of early 2000s Real Time Strategy Games that require you to not only do everything in precisely the right order but also to be lucky while you do.

However, please don't eject your love of the game just because of this mod. I'm currently playing Dorateen's Harkenwold mod and after 35 hours in the game I'm still very much enjoying myself. Full review of it to come at a later date, but, really, if you haven't ever played Harkenwold in any previous format then it's something that makes KotC2 value for money even at this stage and is a wonderful showcase for the engine and its systems. Pretend Harkenwold is the base game until more mods come along.

Harkenwold review to come, but first of all I'll say a quick few words about our very own @felipepepe 's little hour or two module called Cragmaw Castle.

This module is, like Harkenwold, currently available from KotC2's Nexus Mods page: https://www.nexusmods.com/knightsoft…size=15&page=2

It's a level 1 adventure which sees you combating a small castle full of Goblins and some of their pets.



The other notable feature of interest is that the module contains one lone trader who can sell you some very basic equipment, a character felipepepe has titled Josh Sawyer, lol.

As you can imagine there's not a great deal to say, but it does have a surprisingly large amount of content considering it's solitary one-map size.

It is pleasing and enjoyable and provides for a fun accompaniment to the larger universe of KotC2 content.