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

[d1r]

Game is becoming more ruthless now with each new and side mission in Act III. The new enemy types have a huge HP pool, and some of their attacks, and attack combinations are really nasty. Also, some of the side missions in Act III are insane. I thought that that "The Wild Hunt" mission was pretty tough, but then I played the "The Red Knight" mission, and ooooofff, barely managed to do it with my A-Team (which means a lot of injuries and less vitality for the next missions). The difficulty curve on Hard is still good, imo, even though I complained about it at the start of my playthrough. Act I is difficult because you have very limited ressources (don't kick heroes for RP reasons!), have to play very carefully, and have to get kinda lucky with your item drops to make it through. Act II is where the game opens up, where you find a LOT of rare items, and where you can finally realize a lot of builds and team combinations, that can make Act II a cakewalk. It was definitely the most fun act, even though a little bit to easy. Act III brings you back to the cold reality by dropping you to really long main and side missions with enemies I described in the first sentence.

Also, the itemization in this game is pure bliss. Items feel impactful, they come with larger numbers instead of +5% more fire damage, and some items even give you nice modifiers like "Can't be backstabbed anymore", "Grants Heal Skill", or "Fires an additional arrow with 50% after hitting an enemy". Loving it.

Companions reactions are nice too, although they are pretty rare and not always consistent. Lady Morgawse having banter injections in a certain side mission that could have been completed before recruiting her felt pretty great, however, Sir Ector not complaining about Sir Dagonet trying to "eradicate" Christianity was pretty weak. Also, is it me, or does Sir Mordred feels kinda lackluster with his LVL 3 skills? It's kinda weird to see the main hero of the game being a generic tank with some spellcasting quirks.

Meh, anyway, I would love to see a fully fleshed out expansion pack for this game. It's really fucking good.

 

[notpl]

Mordred's lightning abilities are extremely damaging. I agree that having him locked into the defender role is a bit boring (letting us change his base class is my #1 feature request for a dlc/expansion situation) but he is inarguably the best one offensively, dealing out as much damage as most non-vanguards with the right gear. In my experience the best thing you can do is load him up with "bonus damage per hit received" gear, let him soak up a whole round of attacks with his armor and shield taking most of the beating and then go nuts with chain lightning and cleave the following turn to wipe out whole groups.

 

[Volourn]

Do you get to see Morgana's tits and screw her brains out? If so, I'll buy.

 

[Cael]

Mordred's lightning abilities are extremely damaging. I agree that having him locked into the defender role is a bit boring (letting us change his base class is my #1 feature request for a dlc/expansion situation) but he is inarguably the best one offensively, dealing out as much damage as most non-vanguards with the right gear. In my experience the best thing you can do is load him up with "bonus damage per hit received" gear, let him soak up a whole round of attacks with his armor and shield taking most of the beating and then go nuts with chain lightning and cleave the following turn to wipe out whole groups.

With +AP gear, Mordred can do 4-5 hits a round + charge. That adds up fast.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Do you get to see Morgana

Portraits are the most you get:

That and the 3D model, which I think is shown in the image:

You need to pursue the Old Faith to recruit Morgana, so I won't be seeing her myself unless I ever play a second time as Old Faith and Tyrannical.

 

[BruceVC]

Do you get to see Morgana

Portraits are the most you get:

That and the 3D model, which I think is shown in the image:



You need to pursue the Old Faith to recruit Morgana, so I won't be seeing her myself unless I ever play a second time as Old Faith and Tyrannical.

Dammit, maybe we can get some adult mods and change that ?

 

[Serious_Business]

Also, is it me, or does Sir Mordred feels kinda lackluster with his LVL 3 skills?

The problem with Mordred is partly that he doesn't get loyalty bonuses. It was suggested that he gets them through the different acts, which would be a good idea. Otherwise he's actually a lesser character than the rest. 20% damage and +1 ap is fairly significant. Also, he is a hybrid, so he doesn't do anything great. He works as a tank but really it seems like others do better.

As others said one of the best thing about the act structure is the difficulty progression. Getting introduced to new enemies and learning them is pretty good. The Sidhe are starting to feel fairly easy to me now, but at the begining of act 3 I was also loosing my shit. The act ramps up the anticipation for the new enemies usually too, it's a pretty good trick. It's telling me to fear those fomorian giants now. I know I'll just cripple them with Balin's cheeky backstabs, but yeah, pretty scary.

I'm playing Old faith + Tyrant for maximum postmodernism or whatever it is. Morgana is pretty good, and I'm willing to die for her as she barely remembers that I exist, but the rest of the characters are pretty dissapointing. You get that vanguard without jump, seems useless, and Dagonet is quite bad. I don't even use the Black knight, I prefer Brunor Le Noir, the man without a cause, who kills children for maximum edginess. Gotta cut it up to the bone, man. The red knight is just some kind of asshole who thinks he's harder than me, and I guess he is. Good for him.

 

[Harthwain]

You get that vanguard without jump

Interesting. I thought the class' talents are merely scattered throughout the skill trees (I am calling it a skill tree for the lack of better term) depending on character in question, but a Vanguard missing a Jump skill is really unusual.

 

[notpl]

Also, is it me, or does Sir Mordred feels kinda lackluster with his LVL 3 skills?

The problem with Mordred is partly that he doesn't get loyalty bonuses. It was suggested that he gets them through the different acts, which would be a good idea. Otherwise he's actually a lesser character than the rest. 20% damage and +1 ap is fairly significant. Also, he is a hybrid, so he doesn't do anything great. He works as a tank but really it seems like others do better.

As others said one of the best thing about the act structure is the difficulty progression. Getting introduced to new enemies and learning them is pretty good. The Sidhe are starting to feel fairly easy to me now, but at the begining of act 3 I was also loosing my shit. The act ramps up the anticipation for the new enemies usually too, it's a pretty good trick. It's telling me to fear those fomorian giants now. I know I'll just cripple them with Balin's cheeky backstabs, but yeah, pretty scary.

I'm playing Old faith + Tyrant for maximum postmodernism or whatever it is. Morgana is pretty good, and I'm willing to die for her as she barely remembers that I exist, but the rest of the characters are pretty dissapointing. You get that vanguard without jump, seems useless, and Dagonet is quite bad. I don't even use the Black knight, I prefer Brunor Le Noir, the man without a cause, who kills children for maximum edginess. Gotta cut it up to the bone, man. The red knight is just some kind of asshole who thinks he's harder than me, and I guess he is. Good for him.

I make no excuses for sir bedevir, however since the latest patch nerfed Jump he might be a more attractive option now. The black and red knights both have the same gimmick - worse defense than similar characters in their class, but better offense - and can be put to good use, although I admit they're both outclassed by their counterparts on the side of good.

Calling Dagonet bad is just ignorant, though. His hex focus may be less flashy than the elemental blasters, but he's by no means weaker than the other arcanists. The big thing to realize is that his huge AoE spell is not a blast, it's a hex - which means it's augmented by all his hex-boosting and cost-reducing abilities. He can blow his whole spell bar in one turn thanks to that unique AP-reducer passive, which in turn triggers the tier 3 cooldown reduction ability faster, meaning he can cover the whole battlefield in his damaging, slowing terrain in a few turns. His vulnerability hex seems disappointing at first since Mordred has had that same ability from the word "go," but Mordred doesn't get any abilities or equipment to increase his hex potency, and dagonet does. This means he can apply vulnerability (and slow, and bleed) to bosses, something no other character in the game can do.

Plus, tyrant + old faith means you get to party with your mom. Are you a bad son? Do you not want to party with your mom?

 

[mikaelis]

I went righteous + old faith and chose uncle Merlin over my mum.

I miss her as she seems the pinnacle and most unique for Sage class.

Uncle Merlin is a beast though with his fire spells, crows and mind-spell, so I am not complaining too much.

Any yes-sayers for Faerie Knight? (medium armor, close combat spells, teleport, long range spell as well)

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

You get that vanguard without jump

Interesting. I thought the class' talents are merely scattered throughout the skill trees (I am calling it a skill tree for the lack of better term) depending on character in question, but a Vanguard missing a Jump skill is really unusual.

There are differences in skill availability for just about every character, and some of them are quite substantial. Since the game counterproductively hides the Tier 2 and Tier 3 skills until the character has spent a certain number of points, I recommend looking them up via https://kingarthurknightstale.wiki.fextralife.com/Heroes for making decisions as to which characters to keep or dismiss.

 

[Zombra]

You get that vanguard without jump

Interesting. I thought the class' talents are merely scattered throughout the skill trees (I am calling it a skill tree for the lack of better term) depending on character in question, but a Vanguard missing a Jump skill is really unusual.

There are differences in skill availability for just about every character, and some of them are quite substantial. Since the game counterproductively hides the Tier 2 and Tier 3 skills until the character has spent a certain number of points, I recommend looking them up via https://kingarthurknightstale.wiki.fextralife.com/Heroes for making decisions as to which characters to keep or dismiss.

Also, to be "productive" when reading murder mysteries, it's recommended to read the last chapter first.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

RPGs should not conceal vital information about character progression/customization from the player.

 

[notpl]

I went righteous + old faith and chose uncle Merlin over my mum.

I miss her as she seems the pinnacle and most unique for Sage class.

Uncle Merlin is a beast though with his fire spells, crows and mind-spell, so I am not complaining too much.

Any yes-sayers for Faerie Knight? (medium armor, close combat spells, teleport, long range spell as well)

Faerie Knight is weird. He's begging you to build him as a dodge tank/assassin, but he lacks the damage and mobility of a vanguard and 30% dodge still isn't quite enough to keep him out of hot water. To be honest, I never figured out how to make use of him. He's just plain worse than all the other arcanists, and he sure as shit can't out-melee a vanguard or champion.

 

[Harthwain]

Also, to be "productive" when reading murder mysteries, it's recommended to read the last chapter first.

Eh, I agree with Zed here - I am OK with skills being locked behind tiers and shuffled as this introduces some variety to character builds, but hiding skills completely in a tactical game is a questionable design decision. Especially when they are not procedurally generated.

 

[notpl]

In my opinion the problem is the hidden skills plus the limited party slots, meaning you have to permanently dismiss people rather than just benching them in limbo. Pick one or the other, please.

 

[Harthwain]

In my opinion the problem is the hidden skills plus the limited party slots, meaning you have to permanently dismiss people rather than just benching them in limbo. Pick one or the other, please.

Unless I am mistaken you can have as many benched characters as possible (which happens automatically when you don't have an open spot). The real issue is that characters occupy slots ASAP as you do a mission with them, meaning it's not possible to bench them and they have to be dismissed, meaning having too many open slots can be bad for you.

 

[Zombra]

Eh, they're not hidden completely though. Are they not revealed over the course of the game?

Hey, it's OK if you like optimizing your entire party build before you even play a second of the game ..... but that's not how this game is designed. Clearly the intent is for you to get more info as you go and roll with it as best you can. It's fine to dislike that design. It's fine to think of oneself as a better designer than the devs. It's also fine if you like looking up spoilers for a game, turning on god mode, etc. but you're playing a different game than you were given. Consulting the internet to look up info the game has deliberately hidden from you is cheating, whether it's a puzzle game, adventure game, mystery game or RPG; and I am perfectly comfortable judging y'all for it.

What you do in your home is your business ... what I think about that when you brag about it is mine.

Carry on, bros

 

[Harthwain]

Eh, they're not hidden completely though. Are they not revealed over the course of the game?

Sure, but you need to invest skillpoints before tier 2 and tier 3 are revealed (although some characters have them revealed earlier), which means blind investment. I can easily imagine the lack of Jump being a deal breaker when looking for a Vanguard (not for me personally though).

Hey, it's OK if you like optimizing your entire party build before you even play a second of the game ..... but that's not how this game is designed.

I disagree. To play on Ironman (which is set on Hard by default and can't be changed, if I am not mistaken) you have to be good at optimizing your builds and parties, because some missions have really high difficulty spikes you wouldn't expect judging the mission by its level alone.

It's fine to think of oneself as a better designer than the devs.

Not sure why anyone would think that being a developer makes one automatically a better designer. You can be a developer and a bad designer. Not that I think the whole game is badly designed, mind you.

What you do in your home is your business ... what I think about that when you brag about it is mine.

Who's bragging?

 

[Grunker]

To play on Ironman

This game isn’t designet for Ironman at all, it’s an afterthought at best.

While I disagree with Zombra that the design of hidden skills is good, he is clearly right about the devs’ intentions.

 

[Nortar]

Eh, they're not hidden completely though. Are they not revealed over the course of the game?

Hey, it's OK if you like optimizing your entire party build before you even play a second of the game ..... but that's not how this game is designed. Clearly the intent is for you to get more info as you go and roll with it as best you can. It's fine to dislike that design. It's fine to think of oneself as a better designer than the devs. It's also fine if you like looking up spoilers for a game, turning on god mode, etc. but you're playing a different game than you were given. Consulting the internet to look up info the game has deliberately hidden from you is cheating, whether it's a puzzle game, adventure game, mystery game or RPG; and I am perfectly comfortable judging y'all for it.

What you do in your home is your business ... what I think about that when you brag about it is mine.

Carry on, bros

I would not say that reading the Player's Handbook before rolling up a D&D character is cheating.

If the devs follow some trendy fad (shoving up crafting into everything, or adding rogue-like elements like in this case) does not mean it makes the game better.

But if you are not against the very idea of having beforehand knowledge; and only against it if it's going contra the devs intentions to hide it, it can be pointed out that the devs themselves are not consistent in what info they conceal from the players.

You know exactly what characters and when you get based on your morality compass and mission description (something your character objectively can't be aware about), but you can't talk to the guy to know what he's capable of after he joins you? How does it make any sense?

 

[Zombra]

To play on Ironman (which is set on Hard by default and can't be changed, if I am not mistaken) you have to be good at optimizing your builds and parties

"I turned up the difficulty so now I have to cheat"? Not sure I've heard that one before

I would not say that reading the Player's Handbook before rolling up a D&D character is cheating.

TSR didn't make the Player's Handbook "DM eyes only".

If the devs follow some trendy fad (shoving up crafting into everything, or adding rogue-like elements like in this case) does not mean it makes the game better.

I never claimed the game is good. Just saying that circumventing the rules is cheating.

But if you are not against the very idea of having beforehand knowledge; and only against it if it's going contra the devs intentions to hide it, it can be pointed out that the devs themselves are not consistent in what info they conceal from the players.

Are you suggesting that they simply forgot to NOT hide some skills? Game rules aren't required to apply the same way to all things. Heck, you yourself just cited D&D as a good standard to judge things by .... one of the most inconsistent and arbitrary RPGs out there.

You know exactly what characters and when you get based on your morality compass and mission description (something your character objectively can't be aware about), but you can't talk to the guy to know what he's capable of after he joins you? How does it make any sense?

I'm not interested in "realism".

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I strongly prefer the game not telling me what abilities I'll unlock until I get there. I'd take the same choice with e.g., the morality rewards too.

 

[Harthwain]

"I turned up the difficulty so now I have to cheat"? Not sure I've heard that one before

I'd be careful with such comments, because Roguelite has a set difficulty - Hard. Hard was the only difficulty at some point, so you aren't really "turning up the difficulty" by playing in Roguelite mode. You're playing on default (meaning it's effectively the standard difficulty level. The one everyone is supposed to be playing on to play the game as intended).

However, there are balance issues and developers do admit as much. Some stuff is still a subject to tweaking as a result (Leondegrance being weaker than other Sages. Unlimited APs for kills being OP. Jump having too short cooldown. Morgana Le Fay's mission being too hard. To name just a few).

 

[rusty_shackleford]

I played the roguelite mode on very hard