Game News Kult: Herectic Kingdoms - demo avilable

[Whipporowill]

Tags: 3D People; Kult: Heretic Kingdoms

A english demo of the recently gone gold Kult, has been relesed online. Here's the press release from the publisher:
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<blockquote>Playable demo for KULT: Heretic Kingdoms' released
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With the pan-European release of the highly anticipated fantasy RPG ‘Kult: Heretic Kingdoms’ getting very near, its publisher Project Three Interactive have made a brand new demo available for download. The demo weighs 189 Mb and can be downloaded here.
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“The way this game has turned out after 3 years of development, a real gem I can assure you, well, we were just burning to let gamers enjoy a small taste of it”, says Project Three COO Erik Schreuder. “The game starts off at a nice easy going pace while giving the player plenty of information about the epic storyline; I am sure they will feel drawn in when it ends. It really makes you want to play more and the beauty of it is, it only gets better.”
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‘Kult: Heretic Kingdoms’ combines accessible hack & slash gameplay with an engaging adventure storyline, set in a fantasy medieval kingdom. The game design by International Hobo features unique game mechanics for healing, an attunement system for ultimate character customization and a parallel world to explore - really setting the game apart from others in the genre.
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Project Three made it known that the demo just released, is the English version and that they have also created that same demo in German, French, Italian and French - in short, the additional languages the full game will be released in.* Unlike the demo, the full game will have all 5 languages to choose from at the start, with the Germans and the French actually able to also enjoy the game’s voice-over in their own tongue (missing out on the great voice of ‘Dr.Who-4’ Tom Baker though!)
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* [Not all of the foreign language demo’s will be released via the internet right now though. Most will be used for covermount deals with magazines.]</blockquote>Thanks to <b>DemonKing</b> for the heads-up! Demo mirrors can be found by following this <a href="http://www.p3int.com/news_center.asp" target=_blank>link</a> to the publisher - Point 3 Interactive.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Is it any good? Post your extremely detailed and totally biased opinions here.

 

[Whipporowill]

5 minutes in. Like the feel and the audio - now to figure out how attunements work... hehe.

 

[DemonKing]

It's Ok...nice graphics, good to hear Tom Baker (although how he managed to say all the storyline crap with a straight face I don't know...I guess years of playing Dr Who helped!), attunements look interesting...maybe a decent buy when it hits the bargain bin.

Negatives - so far the combat is very Diabloesque, you are limited to four attributes, the dialog options are pretty limited, the storyline is so confusing it made no sense to me whatsoever, the controls are not very intuitive and there is no on-screen mini-map to help you find your way around.

Plus you can play any character you like as long as its a hot chick in a skimpy outfit!

Role-playing!

 

[Vault Dweller]

Negatives - so far the combat is very Diabloesque

Is it like Diablo, D2, or Lionheart? Are there any special attacks or moves?

the dialog options are pretty limited

How limited? Can you be more specific?

What about character development? Is there any story-related reason why you have to be that chick, or a chick?

 

[Whipporowill]

There are no dialogue options - per se. You get to choose what to ask, but not how - no snarky/nice bards anywhere! Just basic commnication, although not uninteresting - your char has her own personlity, you basically just outfit her and get to make some choices - although only one's in the demo I think.

There're 4 areas in the demo.

As for the storyline - it's rather straight forward, the writing and the background story sounds interesting and very wellwritten - esp for a non-english game. Tom Baker has a great voice, although - I don't see the point of a narrator, really. Nice touch when looking at the "slides" though.

Combat is rather straight -forward. The challenge is getting the different attunements worked out. Based on what level your char is, you can have a diff number of attunments active - set when sleeping. If for instance you have a water focus or water based weapon wielded, it gives you water attunement for all equipped water items. Once unlocked the particular item (or other with same attun) must still be equipped to use the "skill". An air staff could give a good lightning attack, a fire staff a fireball, a fire cloak a light effect and so on. Attunments on wearable items are more likely to be active continously.

The dream dimension is pretty dangerous at times, but really useful when being cornered. Also some quests are solved through there.

As for being a chick, it's probably due to being related to Akor (at least I think so). Probably a setup for later storyline thingies, as the men of the bloodline killed the women, for their blood.

Give it a spin. I'm probably getting it when it comes out.

Oh, and yeah. You can buy a house and do a good deed, as well as kill a "god" and sell his meat... Heh.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Why don't you download it, VD? It's not that big.

As for the narrator, he's pretty cool. You might not see a 'point' in having a narrator for this game, or any game, but I think it adds a lot of flare and personality. There are a lot of features that Fallout never needed as they had no 'point' but it's all these little details that make a title whole, and undoubtedly sets them apart from the rest. There might not be a 'point' in implementing certain things in but if every game took the minimalist approach we might as well all be playing Dungeon Siege because it doesn't really have much to offer beyond what is 'needed'.

 

[Vault Dweller]

Why don't you download it, VD? It's not that big.

I'd love to, but I'm too busy with work. I've already lost 2 days to DoW, can't afford any more distractions

 

[Whipporowill]

I say I didn't see the point - not that I didn't like it. Just wondered how cost-effective it was and what actual purpose it filled for the game, apart from being - enjoyable. Narrators are usually used for a reason, aren't they? Just look at IWD.

 

[xemous]

i was pritty dissapointed with the demo
another hack/slash
the only good hack/slash is diablo1/2 and divine divinity wasnt to bad
the fall looks like shit also, and so does sea of evil, im not even wasting time dl'ing that demo
maybe if they had a proper site dedicated to the demo instead to selling it to file planet it might get a few more downloads
looks like a shitty year for games, so shitty, i finally pissed of xp from my gaming machine and slapped on slackware instead

(without thinking of toee, fuck, thats the last time i format on a whim)

 

[Dhruin]

It's pretty clear it was hack-and-slash, so that's not much of a criticism. Diablo 2 bored the the crap out of me with nothing but hack-and-slash. For those of us that appreciate a little bit of story, world cohesion and at least a little meaningful dialogue, Kult has something to offer over D2 even if the combat isn't as good.

I think there's one or two fans of Prince of Qin here, so Seal of Evil isn't an automatic write-off, either.

 

[Elwro]

I have no idea how to open locked chests in this game. I also have audio problems - I hear frequent cracks.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Do you have an Audigy 2? There's a few games that crackle for no god damn reason with that card. I notice that occasionally in Rome Total War, and experienced it all the time in the Conflict Vietnam (horrible game) demo.

 

[Whipporowill]

The locked chest is part of a quest - and hence isn't unlockable until the house is yours. That's why the bed is a clickable item as well.

 

[Ortchel]

Kult is on Suprnova now.

Edit: Ughhh, oh god, this game blows.

Terrible graphics, wretched story, mandatory gender, no minimap, completely unresponsive controls, atrocious hit detection .. I could go on.

Avoid at all costs.

 

[Dhruin]

The graphics aren't terrible, the story isn't wretched and while the controls aren't perfect, they're not bad.

 

[Sol Invictus]

I will find out in 20 minutes.

 

[DemonKing]

There are only 4 accessible map locations in the demo right? I unlocked a 5th location on the main map which told me "not available in demo". This meant I finished the demo with a lot of incomplete quests, so it really is virtually the 1st 4 levels of the game with no end-point.

All in all, it's bargain bin at best. Nice graphics but the rest doesn't do much for me, although the sarcastic personality of the PC is quite amusing at times.

 

[Ortchel]

The graphics aren't terrible, the story isn't wretched and while the controls aren't perfect, they're not bad.

I've seen better graphics on the Gameboy Advance. It'd really benefit from multiple resolutions, though I suppose that won't do much for the pathetically low poly models.

The story is, of course, terrible, but that is obviously subjective, so I won't try to convince you.

And finally, the controls are abominable, this can't even be argued. If you're half a centimeter off target of an enemy, you'll swing at nothingness, even though you appear to be connecting a hit. Fun.

This is one game that deserves the nothingness it will unquestionably be delegated to in a weeks time.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Okay what the fuck. This game is sweet. The controls are the same as Syndicate & Syndicate Wars. If you're having problems with melee it's because you're not clicking on the enemy but rather the air. If you right click on an enemy the protagonist will go to him and pull off attacks. It can be disconcerting if you play in Windowed Mode (which looks better at a high resolution) because the mouse pointed is a wee bit off in that mode. I hope they fix this.

The sound is fine. The ambient music is quite nice and reminiscent of Dungeon Siege and Icewind Dale. While there are no voiceovers, the Narrator adds a very nice and might I say necessary touch to the game.

The graphics are excellent. I don't know what you're smoking, but they're great.

The story seems fine so far. Granted, I'm not that far (just arrived at the town now, saving it from bandits) but it doesn't seem any less interesting than Diablo's did.

update: Been playing some more. Just figured out how attunements work, though I haven't found a Tavern at which to sleep in yet to reconfigure what I've learned. Attunements work in almost the same way the Ability System works in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. Attunements are embedded in equipment; once you equip items (weapons, armour, rings, cloaks, etc.), you will be able to learn the Attunements associated with that equipment. The longer you use the equipment, the more 'Attuned' it will become to you. When it reaches 100%, you will learn it permanently and will be able to select it as an Active Attunement, which can only be chosen every time you go to sleep. You can't sleep anywhere you like and as such you have to find a tavern to do so.

Now, this is where it gets interesting: unlike FFTA's equipment with their independent 'Abilities', many attunements in Kult require the use of a combination of 2 or more items. So, in order to learn "Sunlight", which comes from a Sun Cloak, you will have to equip a Fire-attuned weapon. Likewise, you may need to use a certain attunement like Fireball (which is learned from attuning yourself to the newbie Fire Staff) in order to learn more powerful fire-based spells/attunements as the equipment will require your use of it. I'm not at all far into the game, but I can probably surmise that an attunement like Sunlight is probably used as a prequisite for even more powerful attunements.

But that's not all, there's even cross-elemental attunements. So advancing on your Air-based attunements might result in having lightning based attacks with your sword (Melee-based attunement) eventually.

It's *very* cool, and very ingenious.

I wonder how Seal of Evil's "Five Element System" will compare to it.

p.s. Ortchel is a dork.

 

[Sol Invictus]

Check it out.

 

[Ortchel]

It still sucks.

 

[Whipporowill]

I agree with Rex, Ortchel. I can't see where you're coming from at all.

Oh, and Rex. You know you can sleep at the campfire in town - as long as the townees hasn't been freed?

 

[Sol Invictus]

Really? Cool. I'll try that. My health's really low right now and the Healing Herbs drained me too much.

 

[Elwro]

I think that technically the game sucks ass. It looks only a little bit better than Lionheart and runs very slowly on my computer, on which Gothic 2 runs smoothly. Strange...