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

[Darth Roxor]

Yeah, a 'rough' gem to me definitely entails something that is enjoyable but also deeply flawed in some way, Arcanum probably being the archetypical example of it. Meanwhile Knight's Tale has a super tight scope out of which they've squeezed out the maximum, with the only issue being that there's not much place for anything outside that scope, but that doesn't entail 'rough' in any meaning of the word.

In fact, if we're using the gem nomenclature, then if anything this is polished to the limits with all other material removed.

 

[Grunker]

An example of what a rough gem would be in this genre is Blackguards - while it has a similar hyper-focused scope and is great game in its own right, it has a ton of rough edges and “jank”.

 

[Eldrin]

My point was that calling this a "rough gem" isn't really fair IMO. It's just a gem - a gem that could be even better than it already is, sure, but it's already fantastic.

Yeah, a 'rough' gem to me definitely entails something that is enjoyable but also deeply flawed in some way, Arcanum probably being the archetypical example of it. Meanwhile Knight's Tale has a super tight scope out of which they've squeezed out the maximum, with the only issue being that there's not much place for anything outside that scope, but that doesn't entail 'rough' in any meaning of the word.

Yeah, maybe "unpolished" would've been a better world-choice (not a native english speaker, mind you XD). It's still a pretty clean-cut, high quality gem.

I get what you are saying, and it does deserve a really high praise, especially in the gaming environment of today's times. The fact that in my mind I compare it to of old classics like BG1-2, Warcraft 2-3 or Heroes 3 - different genres, but the levels of polish overall - I would say speaks for itself about Knight's Tale's quality.

I just think that pointing out aspects that could have been done even better is still worth mentioning, even if most other -recent- works are far below its quality.

 

[Cael]

I think they made something special with this game. You know when you finish it, and you've got multiple positive memories? And you can specifically remember battles, characters, dialogue, etc?. The fact that it's also incredible to look at and was clearly made with actual imagination and motivation doesn't hurt either.

Yup, this game is a rough gem - it does have its shortcomings, but it did so many things well.

It's one of the few "new" games that I actually enjoyed, so much so that I even replayed it multiple times already. And I do plan to revisit it again in the future!

In what meaningful way is it even rough? Yeah the voice acting is scuffed and the story is whatever, but there are very few bugs, the systems work better and have more intuitive design than many mainstream games and the pacing between mission/management is dammed near perfect.

I’d say for me the only mark on the game is later difficulty and class balance and after playing 2.0 I can attest that both of these have improved a fuckton - especially class balance has been vastly improved by all the new abilities and the complete slaying of AP generation.

I am pretty sure I am playing 2.0. Ector has 100gold for not being in a mission.

I still don't rate Marksmen. For me, Mordred with charge, Kay with kick, most of the Vanguards and any character with Teleport rates above Marksmen. Mobility, damage and ability to take hits or get out of them seems to be the thing for the game.

 

[Eldrin]

Also having played more with 2.0 Marksmen now, they are a complete legit class now. I'm actively choosing Sir Geraint and Bors for missions now because they are complete beasts.

Fun Fact: Geraint was viable even before 2.0 (probably only Marksman viable on Very Hard). With the right build focusing on Ice Shields (after a skill reset, cuz' he didn't need medium armor if he doesn't take dmg anyway) and a few Artifacts, he was kinda working as a long-range sniper or some weird dodge-tank for bosses. Dmg-wise it wasn't maybe groundbreaking, but I did play with him in missions! :D

 

[Grunker]

I think they made something special with this game. You know when you finish it, and you've got multiple positive memories? And you can specifically remember battles, characters, dialogue, etc?. The fact that it's also incredible to look at and was clearly made with actual imagination and motivation doesn't hurt either.

Yup, this game is a rough gem - it does have its shortcomings, but it did so many things well.

It's one of the few "new" games that I actually enjoyed, so much so that I even replayed it multiple times already. And I do plan to revisit it again in the future!

In what meaningful way is it even rough? Yeah the voice acting is scuffed and the story is whatever, but there are very few bugs, the systems work better and have more intuitive design than many mainstream games and the pacing between mission/management is dammed near perfect.

I’d say for me the only mark on the game is later difficulty and class balance and after playing 2.0 I can attest that both of these have improved a fuckton - especially class balance has been vastly improved by all the new abilities and the complete slaying of AP generation.

I am pretty sure I am playing 2.0. Ector has 100gold for not being in a mission.

I still don't rate Marksmen. For me, Mordred with charge, Kay with kick, most of the Vanguards and any character with Teleport rates above Marksmen. Mobility, damage and ability to take hits or get out of them seems to be the thing for the game.

Early game they are pretty much the same. It's later where they formerly dealt pitiful damage that they change (at level 10 they get 3AP shoot which obviously makes a very big difference). They're still no Champions, and overall I still like Arcanists and Sages better so Champion-Champion-Sage-Arcanist is probably still the optimal comp, but they can one-shot most things which means their versatility (i.e. their range) is actually relevant. It becomes even more relevant due to the AP nerfs meaning Champions and Vanguards can't just one-pop the entire encounter before it begins on Very Hard. Sir Geraint with his mobility buff (again, much more important on champions and vanguards now due to lack of AP generation) might be a contender for my best hero out of the roster. He slaps, buffs and CCs. Balan (his new kit is fucking amazing) and Lancelot are probably still better on my Old Faith Righteous run, but Geraint is very, very good. Bors just deals a fuckton of damage.

Defender is basically the only class that wasn't improved much by 2.0. Playing with one after the early game is a band-aid for poor play. They're not useless (as marksmen were before the patch), they're just clearly the worst choice to bring on a mission (if you're a decent player - if you're not, their ability to tank hits is more relevant) as they're the only class that can't contribute to ending encounters faster meaning the risk of vitality and injury damage grows. I really enjoy encounters lasting longer and Vit+injuries being more relevant, so I often bring one anyway.

All in all, I'm definitely not saying Marksmen are now optimal - I'm saying that you don't feel like you have an empty slot if you bring them on a mission. They definitely contribute. Overall I feel like 2.0 improved so many things, class balance and combat being the main one. The fact that I no longer feel as punished bringing the worse classes and that none of my champions can just outright one-shot big encounters (even if Balan can come close with his YUEG AoE kit) is a pretty big improvement.

 

[Cael]

Early game they are pretty much the same. It's later where they formerly dealt pitiful damage that they change (at level 10 they get 3AP shoot which obviously makes a very big difference). They're still no Champions, and overall I still like Arcanists and Sages better so Champion-Champion-Sage-Arcanist is probably still the optimal comp, but they can one-shot most things which means their versatility (i.e. their range) is actually relevant. It becomes even more relevant due to the AP nerfs meaning Champions and Vanguards can't just one-pop the entire encounter before it begins on Very Hard. Sir Geraint with his mobility buff (again, much more important on champions and vanguards now due to lack of AP generation) might be a contender for my best hero out of the roster. He slaps, buffs and CCs. Balan (his new kit is fucking amazing) and Lancelot are probably still better on my Old Faith Righteous run, but Geraint is very, very good. Bors just deals a fuckton of damage.

Defender is basically the only class that wasn't improved much by 2.0. Playing with one after the early game is a band-aid for poor play. They're not useless (as marksmen were before the patch), they're just clearly the worst choice to bring on a mission (if you're a decent player - if you're not, their ability to tank hits is more relevant) as they're the only class that can't contribute to ending encounters faster meaning the risk of vitality and injury damage grows. I really enjoy encounters lasting longer and Vit+injuries being more relevant, so I often bring one anyway.

All in all, I'm definitely not saying Marksmen are now optimal - I'm saying that you don't feel like you have an empty slot if you bring them on a mission. They definitely contribute. Overall I feel like 2.0 improved so many things, class balance and combat being the main one. The fact that I no longer feel as punished bringing the worse classes and that none of my champions can just outright one-shot big encounters (even if Balan can come close with his YUEG AoE kit) is a pretty big improvement.

Well, my Old Faith Righteous run has Mordred, Faerie Knight, Guinevere and Merlin as my Team A. Mordred more than holds his own, with a combination of lightning and charge. I actually dropped Balan for Boudecia, I think. I don't think I have had any injuries from any non-boss fight in Act 3 and half of Act 4 (where it is still hanging, since I can't find the motivation to finish it).

 

[Chippy]

I think they made something special with this game. You know when you finish it, and you've got multiple positive memories? And you can specifically remember battles, characters, dialogue, etc?. The fact that it's also incredible to look at and was clearly made with actual imagination and motivation doesn't hurt either.

Yup, this game is a rough gem - it does have its shortcomings, but it did so many things well.

It's one of the few "new" games that I actually enjoyed, so much so that I even replayed it multiple times already. And I do plan to revisit it again in the future!

In what meaningful way is it even rough? Yeah the voice acting is scuffed and the story is whatever, but there are very few bugs, the systems work better and have more intuitive design than many mainstream games and the pacing between mission/management is dammed near perfect.

I’d say for me the only mark on the game is later difficulty and class balance and after playing 2.0 I can attest that both of these have improved a fuckton - especially class balance has been vastly improved by all the new abilities and the complete slaying of AP generation.

I am pretty sure I am playing 2.0. Ector has 100gold for not being in a mission.

I still don't rate Marksmen. For me, Mordred with charge, Kay with kick, most of the Vanguards and any character with Teleport rates above Marksmen. Mobility, damage and ability to take hits or get out of them seems to be the thing for the game.

That's 'cause you're playing Marksman wrong and you missed their abilities. Kinda like you missed stealth being broken in IWD2.

 

[Infinitron]

What the hell is this?

King Arthur: Knight's Tale's first FREE seasonal update "The Chained God" arrives on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S on August 1, 2024.

 

[Grunker]

What the hell is this?

King Arthur: Knight's Tale's first FREE seasonal update "The Chained God" arrives on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S on August 1, 2024.

What do you mean? It's basically Season 1 being ported to console (PC is in Season 2). Fucking play this game already, Infinitron.

 

[Jermu]

finally started legion (brutal + roguelite), holy fuck its significantly more difficult than knight's tale. I had to skip 1 optional fight in the first mission (one with the worms)

kinda decline that there are no injuries + vitality dmg anymore and morality chart is bareboned made me want to replay original already

there is not much difference between roguelike + manual save if you cheese since if you quit middle of fight you can start from the beginning

 

[lycanwarrior]

Are the missions in Chpt 4 more balanced now? Some of the optional areas were absolutely brutal as I didn't have a mage but an archer. Been awhile since I played the game, but one of fights would just wittle down my characters armor so quickly I simply couldn't last long enough with the amount of enemies.

 

[Grunker]

Are the missions in Chpt 4 more balanced now? Some of the optional areas were absolutely brutal as I didn't have a mage but an archer. Been awhile since I played the game, but one of fights would just wittle down my characters armor so quickly I simply couldn't last long enough with the amount of enemies.

The general consensus is that the game was too easy in the later chapters, so it's actually a little bit harder since the big balance update because Champions and Vanguards were nerfed. But conversely archers received a very large buff. They are much, much better and no longer feel like a dead slot.

 

[Grunker]

After replaying the game, the change I ended up liking the most (beyond the deeply necessary nerf to AP generation) was the change to bosses. They are now much more durable but deal a little bit less damage, so along with the AP nerf you end up having to deal with their abilities which ended up revealing to me that the bosses actually have a ton of cool ones that clearly had a lot of effort put into them. I just never saw on my first playthrough because they fell over so quickly.

 

[PanickedTushkano]

Has anybody here run into performance/sound problems?

For me it has been pretty random. It usually runs well for a few minutes and then sharply deteriorates. Massive lagging together with lots of audio crackling. Even the music seems to lag.

I have had some missions play fine, but the Bridge of Sorrows for instance was almost unplayable throughout most of it.

Various attempts to fix it haven't resulted in anything stable (verify game files, mess around with various in-game and Nvidia control panel options, fix the framerate to 30, 60 etc.).

Edit: Ok... after reinstalling it and turning down the resolution, fixing it to 30 frames and reducing settings a bit it did run fairly well in a longer session. Don't understand it, but I won't complain.

 

[Infinitron]

Our very first Clip Joust celebrates the art of being as mean as possible, even unnecessarily so. If you don't want to miss out in participating in our next event, join our Discord channel and keep your eyes peeled on upcoming community activities!

 

[koyota]

i'm 20~ hours in at the end of Act 2 and don`t want to restart.
Really liked the first 10 or so hours, but have become a bit bored as nothing is really even damaging my units.

Trusting reddit opinion that Hard / Rogue-like was "ONLY FOR EXPERTS, next to impossible" was a poor choice...

What works for making it more difficult on Hard? Only doing main quests etc viable for that?

 

[GloomFrost]

i'm 20~ hours in at the end of Act 2 and don`t want to restart.
Really liked the first 10 or so hours, but have become a bit bored as nothing is really even damaging my units.

Trusting reddit opinion that Hard / Rogue-like was "ONLY FOR EXPERTS, next to impossible" was a poor choice...

What works for making it more difficult on Hard? Only doing main quests etc viable for that?

There are significant difficulty spikes in Act 3 mind you. Also did you really trust what reddit says?? Seriously!!??

 

[Grunker]

i'm 20~ hours in at the end of Act 2 and don`t want to restart.
Really liked the first 10 or so hours, but have become a bit bored as nothing is really even damaging my units.

Trusting reddit opinion that Hard / Rogue-like was "ONLY FOR EXPERTS, next to impossible" was a poor choice...

What works for making it more difficult on Hard? Only doing main quests etc viable for that?

Go Very Hard for main game and Brutal for expansion.

Unless you do roguelite, in which case you can turn down the diff.

If you can survive the early game on a difficulty, you can survive the whole game. The game is a tad easier early now and a tad harder later due to the changes, but the statement is still very much true.

 

[Castozor]

I recently picked this up as well and VH gets my vote as well. Although I will admit I had to crank it down to Hard twice so far because it seems some Missions just spike in difficulty and I couldn't get trough them with the team available to me at the time. Only on Act2 for now as well so I can't comment on the later game.

 

[PanickedTushkano]

I'm still having massive lag and sound distortion. Apparently it's due to the game simply deciding that it doesn't want to utilize the dedicated GPU anymore after a few minutes. Basically, it starts out at 90 % and after a few minutes drops down to around 30 %. It doesn't really matter what I'm doing. Happens in the main menu and everywhere else.

I don't assume any of you have run into something like this? On this one or other games?

 

[Oropay]

The engine is definitely poorly optimized (IIRC it's the devs own engine), but it shouldn't be that bad. The game is definitely a power virus so I wouldn't be surprised if your crusty old paste can't keep up. Seems to me like you might have some overheating problems with either CPU or GPU. Either one could be the culprit: if your CPU is heavily throttling (and this is a CPU heavy game), that'll decrease framerate, making your GPU have to work less and look underutilized. The GPU itself could also be throttling. The best place to start is making sure the motherboard isn't overvolting the CPU (meaning more heat = higher chance of throttling), i.e., use your CPU manufacturer's default settings or even any kind of eco mode available. If that clears up your problems, either just leave it in the low power mode or clean and repaste the cooler. You can also set up an undervolt on the GPU if you suspect that it's throttling or excessively filling your case with heat

 

[PanickedTushkano]

That's the thing though: I'm not seeing much CPU utilization either. Not even in the beginning when the game still runs well. When I turn off all cores but one the game still seems to be fine with that.

As far as power settings are concerned I don't have many options as far as Win 10 is concerned and I have already tried around with that wihout any impact. It's on the default "Balanced" right now and limiting the max for the CPU in the power settings didn't do anything either.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

I'm still having massive lag and sound distortion. Apparently it's due to the game simply deciding that it doesn't want to utilize the dedicated GPU anymore after a few minutes. Basically, it starts out at 90 % and after a few minutes drops down to around 30 %. It doesn't really matter what I'm doing. Happens in the main menu and everywhere else.

I don't assume any of you have run into something like this? On this one or other games?

King Arthur: Knight's Tale has been extensively altered by the developers since release through repeated patching. Although the monstrously-bloated file size of the terrain has been substantially reduced, they might have introduced other problems, and those of us who played the game soon after release can't comment; I suggest checking the Steam discussion forum.

 

[PanickedTushkano]

I'm still having massive lag and sound distortion. Apparently it's due to the game simply deciding that it doesn't want to utilize the dedicated GPU anymore after a few minutes. Basically, it starts out at 90 % and after a few minutes drops down to around 30 %. It doesn't really matter what I'm doing. Happens in the main menu and everywhere else.

I don't assume any of you have run into something like this? On this one or other games?

King Arthur: Knight's Tale has been extensively altered by the developers since release through repeated patching. Although the monstrously-bloated file size of the terrain has been substantially reduced, they might have introduced other problems, and those of us who played the game soon after release can't comment; I suggest checking the Steam discussion forum.

Yeah, that's what I tend to do. Seems like a problem that exists for a lot of people, but I doubt it's always the same exact thing and people tend to not be very exact when describing their problem. A lot of them probably just had basic performance issues. In this case nothing has been of help and pcgamingwiki also doesn't have anything.

That the game has changed so substantially is a good point in any case. Thanks for bothering in spite of that, Zed and Oropay!