PvP?

[Lord Ludwig]

I don't know if this is the correct forum, but I came to think that what's missing to make the KB the ultimate series is an adequate player vs player mode. Maybe something similar is impossible, maybe on the other hand it's already been done and I am unaware of it, but for those of you who remember the great old classic fantasy general, wouldn't it be great if KB had an arena battle system, where you could decide level-skills-items of your character, or if that's too complicated just total leadership & money after which you pick your five unit stacks and fight it out on a map against a human opponent, in real time or in pbem like in the old days?

[DGDobrev]

Well, for starters, there is no multiplayer mode. Maybe in the future such a patch may pop up, but I surmise that would need a serious game reworking.

So far there have been rumors for official game additions that will enhance SP (castle sieges, even more items, etc.), but nothing that involves the addition of a second (or more) player. I wonder if hot-seat can be implemented. It will not require creating a multiplayer mode, just make an arena (as you suggest) and allowing both side units to be commanded but player 1 or player 2. In this case the AI will simply take no part. I would readily settle for this:
Bill Gilbert trains Amelie - you select the units for each of them, elect the class and either you play vs. the AI or a friend takes over one of the chars and his armies.

Although I must admit I'd like to see something like this added, I've always found KB series as the ultimate SP experience. The AI is decent, difficulty setup is good, the game allows a multitude of advancement paths, and can be easily modded to improve even further the SP experience - by making the enemies tougher, increase their numbers, etc.

[Lord Ludwig]

I agree that the KB series are a fantastic sp experience, the only thing somewhat comparable was maybe Jagged alliance II. But I don't think the AI is all that good. As I posted elsewhere, I recently managed to join the ranks of those who, like you Dobrev, made the no-loss game, and using only droids in the final boss fights it was surprisingly easy. But would it work against a human opponent? I don't think so, since he would concentrate on them and not allow them to rebuild. Probably in a PvP game giving up one of your five stacks to split one in two would be suicide.

And then again, wouldn't you like the idea of going against all those other guys who claim the game is so easy, and that they found the ultimate army build and such? Wouldn't you like it if there was the possibility to hold an actual KB tournament like they were done years ago for the 5-star general series?

[DGDobrev]

To be completely honest, I wouldn't like the idea :)

I like games that are fun, that provide numerous options and numerous paths of advancement towards a set goal, and are good means to waste some time while getting an aesthetic and mind-challenging (tactics, exploration, etc.) pleasure from them. I am by no means obsessed by PvP, and I was never good at PvP games (although I did play Lineage II for a few years) because I don't feel like proving myself to anyone in front of the PC, and for that reason, I do not play a game to show that I'm better than the rest, just to find out everything about it. I find online PvP a little impersonal... I like other PvP options - soccer, chess, martial arts, running, hiking and table tennis :)

However, I will completely support anyone who wants to make a tournament. People here on the forum are great, most of them have vast knowledge of the game and have proven that over and over :)

[Lord Ludwig]

I must say I admire this in you, Dobrev. You're certainly one of the greatest experts of this game but indeed in all your posts I've read no hard competitive streak emerges. Congratulations.

[DGDobrev]

Thanks for the kind words, mate. In any case, your idea is really good, as it promotes even more options to have fun with this game and increase its replayability, so if anything pops up, you have my complete support on that, even if that doesn't mean that much :)

[Lord Ludwig]

Alas while I am good at having ideas I am awful at realizing them :-)

Dobrev, do you know "fantasy general", the game I mentioned earlier? It's an old classic to which fantasy wars and elven legacy pay plain homage, but the hand-drawn illustrations of the units were very similar to those of KB during loading screens, either the artist took inspiration or it's the very same guy.

Anyway, FG had the perfect arena implementation.

However, it's true things could go quite competitive. I joined the on-line tournaments for one year in 2002 and came up number two, but then due to work-related issues I lost contact. I sometimes wonder if people I knew back then with their pseudonyms are currently playing the KB series...

[DGDobrev]

Well, I do not, but I'll look it up to check what did you have in mind. And, of course, grats on your accomplishments.

[Lord Ludwig]

Finding the game should be easy, it's downloadable from several sites, I think. Getting it to run in XP, vista or 7 could be tricky. Let me know. It's clearly outdated - the graphics weren't' that good already when the game came out in the late nineties - but it was the ultimate fantasy/strategy experience for many.

[lauvhk]

Use Dosbox to run FG