Zechnophobe
12-04-2009, 03:56 AM
While I do absolutely adore King's Bounty, there were still some concepts from Heros5 that I think were done better. I also have some opinions on the way the game in general works that I'd love to see changed. Here goes.
1) HOMM5 has a fluid turn system, instead of a fixed one. That means that units with higher initiative actually get to perform more actions than those with lower initiative. Your Hero was the same, in that he'd get an action every certain amount of time, and could always at least ride out and do a little damage. This was a really nice system that allowed for a lot of interesting balance.
2) As much as I like King's Bounty, I am getting a little tired of using the same units in most games, because other ones just aren't available. You always start in a human city, with human troops, and a few snakes, nearby to recruit. You never have any real dynamic choices early on in troop composition. Inquisitors, bowmen, king snakes... this list sounding familiar to anyone yet? Instead of starting in the same position in each game, and have a 'set' route through the game, I think it would be much more interesting if it varied.
3) I think reinforcement slots is a good idea, but let's take it a step further. Instead of having a fixed limit to the number of troops you can recruit and have in your army, instead allow the player to buy stacks of any size, but when combat starts only the amount the leadership allows for will actually enter combat. You can keep stocked on troops for as long as you want, without having to make boring trips back to the remote locations you found Evil Beholders, and you also don't have to micromanage your stacks as much when you level up or find leadership flags!
4) Tavern's are cool in this game, in that they tend to have an interesting assortment of troops. But wouldn't it be even cooler if they would restock every now and then? You go check the tavern and find it has a good number of some rare troop, if 3) has been done, you could buy an ample number of them now. Later on, people move, travellers from distant lands come, and now different mercenaries are there for hire. Adds more consistent excitement over these types of buildings.
5) You ever try out a big stack of some unit, only to find out it wasn't as good as you thought? It would be nice if you could do... SOMETHING with troops that you didn't want anymore, to recoup the losses. Sell into slavery, sacrifice to a demon god, whatever.
6) Another cool thing that was done in Homm5 (And other Homm games) is the existence of units of variable size. King's Bounty has a lovely strategic feel already due to the complex pathing and placement of troops, and I think units that are fundamentally larger than others would add a cool new layer to it, that is elegant and easy to understand. It would also be nice to see 'big' units like a black dragon take up more space than 'little' ones like a dragonfly or fairy.
7) Another nice Hero's line effect is building buildings in towns that give your hero's interesting static bonus'. For instance, necromancer's gaining increased necromatic power. I'd like to see more map objects that give things that are interesting, and not just 'rage/mana/stats' . Most interesting rewards end up being items that compete for space. Why not Titles that give us other interesting bonus'?
8) Lastly, I'd like to see SOME kind of 'fast action' gameplay option. This I draw more from games like Spectromancer, where you can easily pick up and play. Imagine a setting where you get a random hero and army, and face off against a different random hero and army. Etherlords 2 also did this nicely. So you don't have to sit down and play the entire epic campaign if you get a hankering for a little KB.
1) HOMM5 has a fluid turn system, instead of a fixed one. That means that units with higher initiative actually get to perform more actions than those with lower initiative. Your Hero was the same, in that he'd get an action every certain amount of time, and could always at least ride out and do a little damage. This was a really nice system that allowed for a lot of interesting balance.
2) As much as I like King's Bounty, I am getting a little tired of using the same units in most games, because other ones just aren't available. You always start in a human city, with human troops, and a few snakes, nearby to recruit. You never have any real dynamic choices early on in troop composition. Inquisitors, bowmen, king snakes... this list sounding familiar to anyone yet? Instead of starting in the same position in each game, and have a 'set' route through the game, I think it would be much more interesting if it varied.
3) I think reinforcement slots is a good idea, but let's take it a step further. Instead of having a fixed limit to the number of troops you can recruit and have in your army, instead allow the player to buy stacks of any size, but when combat starts only the amount the leadership allows for will actually enter combat. You can keep stocked on troops for as long as you want, without having to make boring trips back to the remote locations you found Evil Beholders, and you also don't have to micromanage your stacks as much when you level up or find leadership flags!
4) Tavern's are cool in this game, in that they tend to have an interesting assortment of troops. But wouldn't it be even cooler if they would restock every now and then? You go check the tavern and find it has a good number of some rare troop, if 3) has been done, you could buy an ample number of them now. Later on, people move, travellers from distant lands come, and now different mercenaries are there for hire. Adds more consistent excitement over these types of buildings.
5) You ever try out a big stack of some unit, only to find out it wasn't as good as you thought? It would be nice if you could do... SOMETHING with troops that you didn't want anymore, to recoup the losses. Sell into slavery, sacrifice to a demon god, whatever.
6) Another cool thing that was done in Homm5 (And other Homm games) is the existence of units of variable size. King's Bounty has a lovely strategic feel already due to the complex pathing and placement of troops, and I think units that are fundamentally larger than others would add a cool new layer to it, that is elegant and easy to understand. It would also be nice to see 'big' units like a black dragon take up more space than 'little' ones like a dragonfly or fairy.
7) Another nice Hero's line effect is building buildings in towns that give your hero's interesting static bonus'. For instance, necromancer's gaining increased necromatic power. I'd like to see more map objects that give things that are interesting, and not just 'rage/mana/stats' . Most interesting rewards end up being items that compete for space. Why not Titles that give us other interesting bonus'?
8) Lastly, I'd like to see SOME kind of 'fast action' gameplay option. This I draw more from games like Spectromancer, where you can easily pick up and play. Imagine a setting where you get a random hero and army, and face off against a different random hero and army. Etherlords 2 also did this nicely. So you don't have to sit down and play the entire epic campaign if you get a hankering for a little KB.