KickStarter King Arthur: Knight's Tale + Legion IX standalone expansion - dark fantasy turn-based tactical RPG from NeocoreGames

[Nortar]

My relics:

Spoiler

Heal skill cures 15HP once per encounter. The fact that this gives such good resists means it might be replaced later than I'd like, because it's not that impressive.

Meh - but decent enough on my backstabber who frequently deals a shitton of damage which is marginally less than the enemy's full HP.

I think this is a huge trap - positioning is THE most important thing on very hard, so an entire encounter can be utterly ruined, causing a reload (or game end on roguelite) by this item.

The headscratcher. I am leaning towards this thing actually being worthless, even though it breaks with Roguey's rule that in all games with variable AP, AP > everything. The thing is, this isn't really true of this game where more AP is often just saved or used for movement, and it's especially untrue on Mordred who uses spare AP on a pitiful auto-attack. In exchange for using that auto-attack less, you get +1AP on *everyone* after a rest - which you can time for hard fights - and you a 5HP shield *every single encounter*, helping you fight attrition.

I think this may actually be good enough, even with the steep cost.

I have to say I love the design of these items. On the surface this game has sucky itemization like your DoSes or XCOMs, but you quickly start to realize that not only can base items make a gigantic difference, relics seem to have a great deal of thought put into them. The hallmarks of good item design is having a hard time deciding what gear you use because (a) you're weighing advantages and disadvantages and (b) you want the effects of the items you're deciding between. Both are really highlights here.

Nice ones, especially the Ring of Decimation.

And I've just got this beauty:

Spoiler

My Kay and Balan would probably duel to death over it, hehe.

 

[Saravan]

One argument for getting the Enchanter's tower early is that Ector as Master of Magic generates very, very good value in the long run.

Yep that's exactly what I did and he has a trait that gives +100 gold per mission as long as he is benched. I just spam training ground leveling on him so that the relic dust rate increases. No idea if this is a good investment in the long run, we'll see. The main con is that you lose an arcanist for missions, from what I gathered that class is pretty rare.

It also looks like enemies lack immunity to fire and frost compared to bleed and poison, at least in the early game.

 

[Grunker]

I don't figure in the 100 gold talent as a reason to bench him, I see it more as a nice to have when he's benched

Or if I just as well could bring someone else, the talent will be the decider.

Poison and Bleed are pretty much useless in the early game due to the lost, yeah. I suspect Tristan will outclass Balin later, but for now, he is almost useless since his auto-attack is poison.

 

[Grunker]

HNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG I really hope I can afford this before the restock. It's crazy considering Balin uses a move skill every single turn.

Spoiler

 

[Whisper]

I heard that there 2 arcanists in full game?

Also 2 vanguards?

 

[Grunker]

I heard that there 2 arcanists in full game?

Also 2 vanguards?

Could very well be true.

 

[Grunker]

I remember watching a review on this on YouTube and the guy (who seemed like a decent nerd on surface) complained that one of biggest gripes with the game was that he couldn't afford every upgrade in Camelot even by the endgame.

THIS IS WHY WE CANNOT HAVE NICE THINGS PEOPLE. Gold and construction resources feeling like a precious resource is one of the best damned things about this game

 

[Cyberarmy]

Yeah, I'm spending more time on castle managment and character equipment than actual combat and missions
I had use my math skills for some relics, can you imagine that?

 

[Saravan]

I wonder if increased % in relic dust when sacrificing relics in the Enchanted Tower stacks. If you go tyranny + old faith that will net you 10% + 20% (although the 20% one comes pretty late). I have also stumbled upon a random event with an alchemist where if you accept him into your castle he will provide an additional 10% passive albeit usually at the cost of some companion loyalty.

Stacking these passives and rushing the construction of the Enchanted Tower to put in Ector asap should put you in a position to make it rain in relic dust. This assumes you are lucky with relic drops while doing missions.

 

[Grunker]

More relic gushing:

Spoiler

 

[d1r]

So, is this game actually good? And how nasty are the bugs? Have been reading some Steam reviews and people are complaining about lost saves and "annoying bugs".

Also, any games to compare it with?

 

[Grunker]

It's fantastic (so far)

It runs smoothly on my machine (which is a 3080, 5900x monster, so YMMV) and I've only encountered one bug so far which was saved with a reload. Most "buggy" is a fairly large amount of grammatical errors

It compares favourably to nu-XCOM and Dungeon of Naheulbeuk

 

[Renevent]

I remember watching a review on this on YouTube and the guy (who seemed like a decent nerd on surface) complained that one of biggest gripes with the game was that he couldn't afford every upgrade in Camelot even by the endgame.

THIS IS WHY WE CANNOT HAVE NICE THINGS PEOPLE. Gold and construction resources feeling like a precious resource is one of the best damned things about this game

I think I watched the same video, and I believe he also mentioned he wasn't done with the game quite yet and would report back on that later. Even if it wasn't the same guy, there's a achievement award (in game) that mentions upgrading all buildings so I assume it's at least possible. I will say I'm probably 50% done with the game and I'm not even close to fully upgraded lol.

 

[Grunker]

I remember watching a review on this on YouTube and the guy (who seemed like a decent nerd on surface) complained that one of biggest gripes with the game was that he couldn't afford every upgrade in Camelot even by the endgame.

THIS IS WHY WE CANNOT HAVE NICE THINGS PEOPLE. Gold and construction resources feeling like a precious resource is one of the best damned things about this game

I think I watched the same video, and I believe he also mentioned he wasn't done with the game quite yet and would report back on that later. Even if it wasn't the same guy, there's a achievement award (in game) that mentions upgrading all buildings so I assume it's at least possible. I will say I'm probably 50% done with the game and I'm not even close to fully upgraded lol.

I almost posted it here since it was a nice quickie review with an overview of the features, but that part tilted me off the planet.

I do think it's possible if you max efficiency on resources - there are a lot of ways to save and generate resources down the line. As well, if you don't spend on items at all and use the law to buy crafting resources whenver you can, the split between gold and resources narrows. So probably a full upgrade run is possible, but not likely. That's an early estimation though

 

[rusty_shackleford]

So, is this game actually good? And how nasty are the bugs? Have been reading some Steam reviews and people are complaining about lost saves and "annoying bugs".

Also, any games to compare it with?

I don't think anyone itt has had a negative reception of the game yet.
I encountered no bugs btw. It was in early access for a while.

 

[Saravan]

So, is this game actually good? And how nasty are the bugs? Have been reading some Steam reviews and people are complaining about lost saves and "annoying bugs".

Also, any games to compare it with?

I have only played about 20 hours thus far but this game is definitely worth a playthrough. It has been quite some time where I felt compelled to keep playing a game. Got extremely bored mid-way with both Pillars and Pathfinder even though they aren't the same genre they are relevant to me as I was looking for a tactical combat with RPG elements that didn't just end up in build autism with the actual combat involving zero thought in things like positioning, use of environment and decent AI.

As mentioned by Grunker, the closest comparison is XCOM.

The combat is fun and feels rewarding. Enemy variety has so far been OK but nothing spectacular. Great sound and voices (some fall flat for me e.g. Yvain) but overall good. Itemization shines through the relics and there's a clear design in meaningful decision making with the morality system, loyalty mechanics, random events and most importantly limited resources.

 

[Cyberarmy]

I had only one minor bug in 15 hours. And it was in a cutscene, skipable with ESC. Game is also very alt+tab friendly.
Those kind of things are really rare nowadays...

 

[Grunker]

Okay, I'm prepared to make a statement: Vanguard >>> Champion once you get Hide (basic) + Jump -> -1 AP cost - -1 CD. That combination is ludicrous. You jump in, kill two things, take 1 step back, hide. Or on a boss, you jump in, strike 2-3 times, take one step back, hide. Crucial affixes are the ones that enable you to hide closer to enemies as well as the one that gives a free escape from AoOs once per turn (so you can get out if you don't kill stuff).

 

[rusty_shackleford]

The only vanguard I had was Tristan btw so my view on the class may be skewed. I took Balan instead of Balin.
Balin is probably the better choice from gameplay POV simply because you get so many champions, but I prefer Balan's character.

 

[Grunker]

The only vanguard I had was Tristan btw so my view on the class may be skewed. I took Balan instead of Balin.
Balin is probably the better choice from gameplay POV simply because you get so many champions, but I prefer Balan's character.

That might explain it - Tristan not only gets later access to jump, but is also hampered by being all poison, all the time on a class whose entire identity so far has been one-shotting enemies and hiding.

I have a feeling that dots might become better later, but so far they're shit, since you can't afford to dot up a bunch of enemies - they will just hit you, making it far more efficient to take down enemies one by one.

It might also color my experience that I bought the relic I posted about earlier (+5 damage after using a movement skill), so Balin's damage is ridicoulous.

Balin is probably the better choice from gameplay POV simply because you get so many champions, but I prefer Balan's character.

I only have 1 champion so far: Kay

 

[Shackleton]

Hmmm, I couldn't see any real downside with telling them both to toe the line, I'm master of the damn bridge so you both better serve me. Was there a loyalty hit or something? I gave them both titles in camelot and both are in the +10% damage section of loyalty so if there was, it didn't matter.

Balan is spending all his time in the Training grounds though, Balin is definitely the first name on the team sheet. As Grunker says, his mobility and damage is just too good to pass up. Up to lvl 6 now and my team is usually Mordred, Balin, Lady Dendrazine or whatever her name is and Sir Ector. I've gone heavy into burning on my archer and her DoT ticks for 7-9 for 3 turns which is pretty useful tbh. Managing without Balan or Kay quite easily, (on Hard).

 

[rusty_shackleford]

on very hard the enemies do too much damage to wait for dot ticks to kill them, champion's ability to quickly take out enemies becomes more valuable to reduce incoming damage
if you have the right talents and items for +damage on hit or +damage on kill they can do massive damage after a turn or two

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I only have 1 champion so far: Kay

Spoiler

In the side mission with Kay against the rebels, if you challenge the guy at the end to an honorable duel and win then let him live you can recruit him, he's a champion.

 

[Saravan]

Okay, I'm prepared to make a statement: Vanguard >>> Champion once you get Hide (basic) + Jump -> -1 AP cost - -1 CD. That combination is ludicrous. You jump in, kill two things, take 1 step back, hide. Or on a boss, you jump in, strike 2-3 times, take one step back, hide. Crucial affixes are the ones that enable you to hide closer to enemies as well as the one that gives a free escape from AoOs once per turn (so you can get out if you don't kill stuff).

There are also trinkets that can give a free dodge per turn against AoOs, found a blue ring for that.

 

[Grunker]

Hmmm, I couldn't see any real downside with telling them both to toe the line

There's no downside except the morality hit, leading you to get morality unlocks later (and perhaps being unable to max, though I doubt it).

I only have 1 champion so far: Kay

Spoiler

In the side mission with Kay against the rebels, if you challenge the guy at the end to an honorable duel and win then let him live you can recruit him, he's a champion.

I know, but I killed him, 'cause I'm a cunt (and he seemed like a Righteous fellow so there would be loyalty issues).