Reached rock bottom

[Elwro]

Yup, haven't finished it, too little time unfortunately... but I can safely say I do not regret the purchase in the slightest.

 

[GarfunkeL]

KotC early game is, aside from few fights, significantly easier than the demo. Mid-game gets really hard, then end-game gets easier as your characters are so high-level and can craft the shit out of everything. Except for a handful of really, really insane fights near/at the end.

You should definitely buy it, even if pure dungeoncrawling isn't your thing, just to support the guy so he can make KotC2.

And +1 for BG-trilogy in ToEE. But since there's no user-friendly modding tools for ToEE, that's never going to happen, since no-one managed to remake them in NWN1/2 either.

 

[Coyote]

What is the beginning of the game like in comparison to the demo level?
I have found the demo rather brutal, especially the dungeon without exit.

I mostly agree with what others have said about: it has an easy beginning after an initial bump at levels 1 and maybe 2 due to D&D HP mechanics, gets more difficult as you approach the middle, becomes drastically easier after the midpoint (which I'd place at the end of the city in the northern area of the map if you play the game in the order the dungeons/storyline seems to encourage), and then gradually builds up the difficulty again, with the final few battles providing a very satisfying level of challenge. I've played KotC a few times, and the areas where I usually lose a character are at the very beginning (when even non-gorgon enemies can take out your mages as easily as look at them), in the caves on the way to the aforementioned northern city, and in the last storyline battle.

Spoiler

Technically, it's the second-to-last battle of the game. I haven't ever won the last battle, which I consider more of a post-story bonus challenge, because I lost my original save and both of my subsequent attempts were ironmans where I got wiped out and didn't have a chance to try again.

Some "gameplay spoilers", for lack of a better term, about the difficulty progression:

Spoiler

The main reason it gets easy around the middle of the game is that once you reach the northern city, you can fight several trivial battles that give you a ton of experience and good loot to sell. This allows you to make a major upgrade to your characters by crafting gear and picking up any scrolls you're missing, after which the next few areas should be a cakewalk and basically serve to feed you more loot/experience. Also, IIRC the city is about the point where you reach level 9 and can raise dead without having to buy an expensive scroll if you have a cleric, assuming you complete the optional cave area before going there. And finally, it seems to me that the campfires are easier to reach after this point than they are early in the game in the dungeons that have campfires, and the ones that don't are shorter, so if you're in a bind or the sort to abuse resting, you can do so more freely.

Also, I agree with GarfunkeL: you should definitely buy the game if you're at all interested. Aside from having some of the best turn-based combat I've seen in an RPG for years - with a system inferior on paper to ToEE but better in practice due to its encounter design - and not pulling punches when it comes to difficulty, it's self-published (so the money all goes to the people actually responsible for making the game) and has no DRM, a demo that is substantial enough to get a feel for whether you'll enjoy the game, and a fairly small fanbase where every sale makes a difference. Plus, the devs seem to be addressing the complaints about the game, such as the small number of classes, in the sequel without dumbing anything down. I think you mentioned elsewhere that you tend to pirate because of shitty wages where you live, but if you buy any games this year, KotC should be one of them.

 

[Lord Haw Haw]

Or you could just play The Realm Series in FRUA and completely Incline your cRPG experience.

Just played Journey to the Rock in Dungeon Craft and it was a blast. I'd kill for a PoR port to DC (hint, hint).

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

What is the beginning of the game like in comparison to the demo level?
I have found the demo rather brutal, especially the dungeon without exit.

I mostly agree with what others have said about: it has an easy beginning after an initial bump at levels 1 and maybe 2 due to D&D HP mechanics, gets more difficult as you approach the middle, becomes drastically easier after the midpoint (which I'd place at the end of the city in the northern area of the map if you play the game in the order the dungeons/storyline seems to encourage), and then gradually builds up the difficulty again, with the final few battles providing a very satisfying level of challenge. I've played KotC a few times, and the areas where I usually lose a character are at the very beginning (when even non-gorgon enemies can take out your mages as easily as look at them), in the caves on the way to the aforementioned northern city, and in the last storyline battle.

I see. Sounds like they kinda overdid it in the demo, then.

Also, I agree with GarfunkeL: you should definitely buy the game if you're at all interested. Aside from having some of the best turn-based combat I've seen in an RPG for years - with a system inferior on paper to ToEE but better in practice due to its encounter design - and not pulling punches when it comes to difficulty, it's self-published (so the money all goes to the people actually responsible for making the game) and has no DRM, a demo that is substantial enough to get a feel for whether you'll enjoy the game, and a fairly small fanbase where every sale makes a difference. Plus, the devs seem to be addressing the complaints about the game, such as the small number of classes, in the sequel without dumbing anything down. I think you mentioned elsewhere that you tend to pirate because of shitty wages where you live, but if you buy any games this year, KotC should be one of them.

I don't pirate games, except for abandonware (that can't be bought/trying out if it works well). Generally, I simply don't buy indie cRPGs. The devs have decided that this game is worth is about 2,5 hours of work of an unskilled worker. I don't see any reason to disagree with their evaluation and buy it for 11 hours of work.
Generally, I break this rule almost solely for wargames which I know that will give me hundreds of hours of fun.

 

[RK47]

You think you've hit rock bottom? You haven't until you played Heroes of Neverwinter just because it's turn based RPG.

 

[Jaesun]

You think you've hit rock bottom? You haven't until you played Heroes of Neverwinter just because it's turn based RPG.

How the mighty have fallen...

Actually, you could probably do a fairly lulzy LP of this shit.

The LAST D&D game with Atari as the Publisher...

The End of an Era...

 

[RK47]

You think you've hit rock bottom? You haven't until you played Heroes of Neverwinter just because it's turn based RPG.

How the mighty have fallen...

Actually, you could probably do a fairly lulzy LP of this shit.

The LAST D&D game with Atari as the Publisher...

The End of an Era...

I think someone already did that. And most of my game time is between office lunch hour. It was just ..so...shallow as fuck.

 

[Jaesun]

Ahh ok. I must have missed that LP then.

 

[RK47]

Ahh ok. I must have missed that LP then.

I must admit, I am really, really tempted. But I just found the game kinda broke itself when one of my friend power-level his character by just asking one of my level 9 warrior to tag along with his lvl 2 cleric to roflstomp lowbie dungeon and gained more reward at lower risk.

And warrior sucked dick.