King's Bounty: Crossworlds among Best Expansion Packs of 2010

[Nike-it]

King's Bounty: Crossworlds became one of the nominees for the Best Expansion Pack on GameSpot (http://www.gamespot.com/best-of-2010/special-achievement/index.html?page=6).

According to the Editor's Choice the game appeared to be in the top four of 2010 and was claimed to be "may be a more-of-the-same expansion, but it's also the best edition of the strategy role-playing hybrid yet released".

[onepiece]

Congratulations. Although I consider CW as weak in terms of an expansion, it's great as an edition of the year game

[Elwin]

I second that, congratulations but this expansion isnt that great imo. I love the series but i am not blinded totally ;p

[ckdamascus]

I'm surprised no one else is finding as much joy in this expansion as I have. That said, I don't know what the competition is with regards to other expansions in other games, so I can't quite say if this should be nominated as the best. :)

CLASS ADJUSTMENTS

The new skills opens up a lot of doors for the Warrior class (trying out a new Melee Mash Army, inspired by Shrek) thanks to Counter attack. :)

Paladin class is finally useful... Holy Armor is a great skill.

New Summon adjustments makes Summon style Mage FAR more fun and playable. I was able to beat the game in Impossible, 33% damage was done by Ancient Phoenix. :) Dragon of Chaos is FANTASTIC now.

Black Hole allows damage mages to be more viable in the end game.

UNIT CHANGES

Rune Mages are buffed further in 1.3.1.

The Rune Mages open up possibilities for using level 5s more often, this helps out all classes.

Adrenaline system makes Orcs far more powerful and forces people to use new strategies when engaging them.

Engineers are a nice starting unit to help out the early game too.

ITEMS

Smoother opening for all classes due to better item distribution.

Inclusion of Gift Mod Pack items (see, this is probably why people lost some of that thunder, since a lot of people played the gift pack mod before the expansion pack).

EVIL NEW CHALLENGES

I don't know anyone who hasn't complain about Scrounger to some degree or admittedly to her power. The top of the Wizard Tower has boggled some, but not all. :)

[Elwin]

Because its 90% same game, few adjustments for someone who finished AP xxx times isnt enough ^^. True there is scrounger, but u can just skip him ^^ CHanges are indeed good, but they are mor for hardcore players who want new strategies challenges itp, for casual gaming it doesnt bring much, imo.

[ckdamascus]

Because its 90% same game, few adjustments for someone who finished AP xxx times isnt enough ^^. True there is scrounger, but u can just skip him ^^ CHanges are indeed good, but they are mor for hardcore players who want new strategies challenges itp, for casual gaming it doesnt bring much, imo.

True true. And to be fair, I came into the King's Bounty game MUCH later. e.g. I never played King's Bounty: the Legend, just the original King's Bounty back on the Genesis and PC. :)

[DGDobrev]

Still, it's a fun to try out expansion. For casual play, KBCW will never lose its touch and will always have something to add. Quite honestly, I'm starting to think that the less days/no-loss challenges slighty ruin some of the fun part in the game, and that trying out all that it gives to you - and I'm a victim of that concept as well :)

KBCW is like playing Heroes III - you can always find something new to surprise you - like new lineups, new ways to mix up the skills, and more ways to win if you decide to look for them.

BTW, I'm also stuck with the good old KB1 now :P It's a very fun game though and a real breakthrough in its genre for its time. If there was no KB1, there would be no Heroes of Might and Magic :)

[ckdamascus]

Still, it's a fun to try out expansion. For casual play, KBCW will never lose its touch and will always have something to add. Quite honestly, I'm starting to think that the less days/no-loss challenges slighty ruin some of the fun part in the game, and that trying out all that it gives to you - and I'm a victim of that concept as well :)

KBCW is like playing Heroes III - you can always find something new to surprise you - like new lineups, new ways to mix up the skills, and more ways to win if you decide to look for them.

BTW, I'm also stuck with the good old KB1 now :P It's a very fun game though and a real breakthrough in its genre for its time. If there was no KB1, there would be no Heroes of Might and Magic :)

Slightly ruin? I would say a lot! :)

I mean, it is sort of cool to beat up Mr Gremlin with Rune Mages and Black Dragons... ugh. SOOO slow and painful though.

My melee monster mash build requires a lot of items so it cannot easily do it in 7 days. At least not in a FUN way. :)

I am still addicted to no-loss or nearly no-loss. To be honest, the ONLY reason I do it, was because when I first played this game on Impossible, I ran out of money sooo fast.

Also, I could not easily replace good units, so I became a real money grubber.

Heck, in my melee monster mash game, there was only 2 freakin Ogres in the entire game. Thankfully, the training academy lets me train up the Veteran Orcs (they fixed the trophies to give you a fixed amount per your experience level in 1.3.1) into Ogres.

[onepiece]

I also like the changes but the fact that I spent like 50-70 hrs on TL and like 40-50 on AP isn't that appealing to repeat the AP part since is way to similar.

TRUE it adds much but still the first part doesn't excite me the way AP did with all the great changes and quick start speed compared to TL (which is slow at the beginning). And still...why couldn't they do some new models for the new units instead of just re-colors?

Although much of my bickering could be because I've had too many things to do when I tried to play CW and it didn't hit me in the same way as TL and AP did (playing like a demented religious fanatic-like everyday XD) so now I have some troubles trying to play again

Still, is it my idea or Katauri should bring some news about new KB content since they always do that 4 months since their last game?

[Sir Whiskers]

I really don't feel the expansion warrants any awards yet, but I expect it will once 1C is done with it.

There are still some serious bugs (Rune Mages crashing the game) and the editor still needs more support (training videos at a minimum). But I see a lot of potential in CW and can't wait for it to be finished (at which point I'll reinstall it). In the meantime, I'm still enjoying AP.

[ckdamascus]

I also like the changes but the fact that I spent like 50-70 hrs on TL and like 40-50 on AP isn't that appealing to repeat the AP part since is way to similar.

TRUE it adds much but still the first part doesn't excite me the way AP did with all the great changes and quick start speed compared to TL (which is slow at the beginning). And still...why couldn't they do some new models for the new units instead of just re-colors?

Although much of my bickering could be because I've had too many things to do when I tried to play CW and it didn't hit me in the same way as TL and AP did (playing like a demented religious fanatic-like everyday XD) so now I have some troubles trying to play again

Still, is it my idea or Katauri should bring some news about new KB content since they always do that 4 months since their last game?

That's why I try to find the most ridiculous combinations in the game to make them work.

I wouldn't really want to play "yet another" game of KB:Armored Princess if I didn't have some nifty edge to make it fun.

I've played quite a few hours on King's Bounty Armored Princess, so I really hate the "usual" stuff.

Although, I've started to distill most strategies to just a handful of general stratagems.

[atlatea]

Actually, CW is not much of an expansion, imo it is more of an add on.

However AP is indeed an expansion.

Well, CW is perhaps an expansion but it is too abstract for most people to recognize, especially to those who already finished AP.

Imo, KB TL is still the best, though CW has better units and spells, it is more boring than TL, expecially early part of the game.

[onepiece]

It's more correct to call it an "update" to AP. That way it would be a more "definitive" version, adding a lot of things to the already good AP like the spells from the rage spirits from TL, new items to make new builds and more units.

That way it's more like a "gold edition AP" than an Expansion per se (although the stand alone without AP could have been cheaper so it could be seen more as an DLC because that's what it is)

[ckdamascus]

It's more correct to call it an "update" to AP. That way it would be a more "definitive" version, adding a lot of things to the already good AP like the spells from the rage spirits from TL, new items to make new builds and more units.

That way it's more like a "gold edition AP" than an Expansion per se (although the stand alone without AP could have been cheaper so it could be seen more as an DLC because that's what it is)

Yeah. Crossworlds almost seems like what AP should have been to begin with. :)

[rickah88]

I think the DVD version of CW should earn awards....oh wait!