Demo reviews:

[Daystar]

The following is my fairly short review of King's Bounty.

If King's Bounty were a person, I would voluntarily and gladly make love to it, repeatedly and in many different positions. It is that pretty. There were NO graphical glitches AT ALL, the music was good, all the art felt very old school and at the same time it was in stunningly rendered 3D. And (for some reason this matters a great deal to me) there are battlefields with BUNNIES hopping around in the corners of them. Bunnies. Fluffy, Hoppy, Bunnies.

In worship of the Royal Snake: It is WONDERFUL. it is this giant blue snake thing, excellently animated, good in combat, so so so much fun. And when it retaliates against an enemy attack and kills the stack, it shakes the rattle on its tail and looks at the corpse of it's enemy. If it could talk, you can tell what it would be saying: "That's right."

The music is good, the AI is clever, and the feeling of the game is very simmilar to "Dark Lord of Derkholm" or "The Tough Guide to Fantasy Land" by Diana Wynne Jones.


I encourage others to post their reviews/reactions as well.

[The Incarnate]

Having waited for this game for almost a year it seems, to finally download the english demo was a sweet release for me today. Right from the start I noticed exceptional stability within the game..no glitches, crashes, lockups. The graphics were next for me and again i was VERY impressed especially when viewed from maxed zoom out. I am running the game on my maxed resolution of 1280x1024. My specs are Dell xps 400...running a Pentium D 2.80 ghz dual core, 3 gigs of ram. Graphics card is a brand new shiny GeForce 9600 GT and it is running this game like a government mule! Flawless performance on maxed settings.

Graphically, the game is beautiful. High fantasy settings..dark woods, castles, moats, small villages. Plenty of enemies to engage, as well as plenty of treasure to loot. Amazing after the advent of World of Warcraft, several games since then have adopted the cartoony, lushly colored fantasy style of Warcraft. It is evident here as well, and if you liked those beautiful vistas from WOW, you will not be dissappointed here.

Moving through the world in real time really brings home the RPG side of this game. Plenty of quests and errands to go along with exploration of the world go together like chicken and rice.

What would a game like this be without combat. Combat begins by either you coming upon a group of enemies in the real world or vice versa. The warring parties are then transported to a battle arena which apparently changes based on where you were when combat is initiated. Combat takes place on a hex grid and in TRUE turn based fashion. No hacking and slashing for all of Diablo Heads. Here you are encouraged to THINK about tactical strategy. Take your time...savor the battle...isnt that the reason all of us turn based freaks play these kinds of games. TBS rocks!!! Play this game and you will see why.

In closing I forgot to mention, myriads of spells and powers which totally rock. Not to forget the Rage Powers! The two in the demo are kick-a$$!!! I read a report from somewhere that this game was a labor of love for the developers. This is very evident during the demo. A subtle, quaint, and most charming world has been created. What storylines I have read in the demo, have been charming and funny and do exactly what they are supposed to do, meaning sending you on a dangerous quest into a dark forest, rid some ladies garden from evil plants, or to help on ailing hunter rid himself and others from a werewolf curse. It is truly an outstanding game.

Kudos to 1C and Katauri for taking the time and effort to make a game that so many old school gamers such as myself will find irresistable to put down. Should this be your first foray into fantasy themed TBS, not a better game awaits you. Upon playing through the demo I found myself feeling like I did the first time I ever played The Legend of Zelda on NES. Or the first time I ever played Pool Of Radiance, or any of the Bards Tale series. And shall we not forget the first time any of us played the first Heroes of Might and Magic or most ultimately....Kings Bounty! Again thanks to everyone that has been working on this project! Kings Bounty: The Legend represents what was best about gaming from a time now past and invites you to explore its stunning world while keeping hope alive that PC gaming is not dying!! It will never die!!

(.P.S).....all of this just from the demo...lol!!!

[Stever717]

Taggart says " DITTO! "

;)

[Imperial Dane]

Well i would be cautious about calling this a review overall :P

But my Impressions from the Demo were fantastic, i mean where should i start?

The graphics while perhaps not the newest are used to their fullest extent with beatiful textures, great scenery and lovely little villages, the portraits themselves are excellent as well.
I mean one can stare at the scenery for quite some time ;) and never get bored with it.
You have the aboveground forests and waters, open and happy and the more darker and sinister woods out in the sides, you have darkened caves with the occasional ray of light and cellars and dungeons as well. Even the arenas have been given quite a lot of work :)
Spells are quite colourful as well without being directly gaudy.

If we go for the RPG aspects, Kings bounty shines as well, while not having any stat heavy system, it does have a lot of text, quests and choices, allowing for some nice roleplaying if that is what you want (i know i want it :D ) and overall a lot of effort has been put into it with item descriptions and plenty of possibilites of delving into background lore if that is what you wish.. the only thing i miss here would be descriptions for the units themselves, like in Heroes V just to use an example, where beyond just stats there would also be some background info on the units.
And the english is impeccable so no need to worry there.

Combat is nicely done as well with several clever ideas added into it, beyond just having chests there are other things that might appear to change the battlefield, different sorts of altars and statues that might aid you or your enemy with equal chance.
I also liked how horsemen were capable of charging themselves if they had the movement to do it..

and the skill trees were fun as well, i quite liked the fact that certain skills could greatly change some of the units under your command giving them new abilities, although as far as i could see those were a rarity. But i quite liked being able to give my bowmen fire arrows.

The only actual problem i encountered was a tiny music problem in the game where it once in awhile would stutter heavily for a few seconds, but then everything just returns to normal.

So to sum it up, plenty of fantastic stuff.. my only complaint is that there isn't more if it like descriptions for the units ;)

But definately a must have game if you ask me :grin:

Edit: But i must not forget to mention that exploration and having a good eye is rewarded as well, as if you look around you'll find plenty of eggs of different sorts and other goodies

[Ryder]

Great game, of that there is no doubt. Almost everything about it oozes class. My favorite quest was the one with the cursed ring. They way you have to make it uncursed, who would of thunk it? It's good because it's different. Dont have to praise it anymore, the previous posters have done that for me.

My only complaints are

1. The camera movement. Is it at all possible to have the camera in a fixed position behind the hero or something?

2. If I click somewhere on the map that is behind some trees for example, I want the hero to follow the path to get to that point, not run up to the trees and then stop.

Maybe I've been spoiled in H5 with that last point.

Counting down the days for the release. Gotta go and play another class.

[markgil]

sounds like this game is living up to expectations and then some!

how many expansions are planned for KB btw? i thought i read that there were going to be at least 2.

thanks.

[Imperial Dane]

sounds like this game is living up to expectations and then some!

how many expansions are planned for KB btw? i thought i read that there were going to be at least 2.

thanks.

Perhaps you should start up a new thread for expansion talk ? Would be better instead of cluttering this thread up.

[KingImp]

Okay, here is my quick review. Sorry boys and girls, but it's not going to be all positive.

Yes, the graphics are beautiful and this is one of, if not the best looking world I have seen in a long time. The small amount of spells are okay (yes, I know it's limited in the demo), but where it really gets cool is using the Spirits of Rage. That Swamp Monster (can't recall the name right now) with it's Shoal attack is awesome. You can wipe out whole armies using that thing.

I do have to say though that I'm not impressed with running around on the map. It's hard to see where you are going as it doesn't allow you to scroll ahead to see if the coast is clear and numerous times when being chased, I got caught because I kept running into things. That brings me to another point. The path detection in this game is awful. If I tell my hero to run to a certain post, I expect them to find the best route possible and run there. In this game I have numerous times seen them run straight into an object that they could have easily gone around and then they just stop.

Also have to say I am not impressed at the experience and leveling up. I can't count how many fights I had, yet I still just hit level 4. I'm getting like 10 exp. points per fight and it's taking forever. That and it hasn't once prompted me to level up my hero's special abilities. We have this big "tree system" for leveling up, yet it hasn't even offered me anything new. I'm hoping this is all because it's just a demo and it works properly in the full version.

Lastly, this is neither a good, nor bad thing. Just an observation and a question. I have all these quests, but I don't think it's possible to finish them all. Every time I try to go through a portal to where the quest tells me I have to go, it says "This area not available in the demo."
Is it actually possible to even finish all the quests here?


Overall, the game is very addicting, but I was kinda expecting a bit more. Hopefully it really shines in the final version because I'm not blown away here.

[pkt-zer0]

Based on the demo, the game seems to be excellent in every aspect except for the translation. Great overall presentation. The music, while good, seemed to get a bit repetitive after some time, though I'll chalk this up to being limited to a single area. (I'm guessing other areas have differing music tracks) The combat system strikes a nice balance between simplicity and depth - the core mechanics are pretty basic, but having lots of varied abilities allows for quite interesting scenarios. It's as complex as it needs to be, not any more complex. Outside of battles, the items laying all around the place make exploration worthwhile. Quests add some flavour to the basic "kill enemies, upgrade, repeat" gameplay, but a lot of the humour is unfortunately lost due to the translation. It's hard to get a good idea of long-term balance and gameplay from the demo, so can't comment on that. The Starforce copy protection is another negative for me.

Overall, the demo definitely sold me on the game, even though I never really liked any of the HoMM games. It's like Age of Wonders in that way for me: like HoMM, except good. I'll be sure to buy it after it's un-Starforced.

[Imperial Dane]

Well overall i don't recall having any problems with looking around to be honest as i keep a slanted top down view that allows me a good look at things.. and movement wise ? I don't click that far ahead, either in short bursts in the hopes of treasure, or i keep the mouse button down and just ride, in which case the camera tends to move behind the hero.. Just a comment on those things that keeps being repeated...

@Kingimp: That is because the skill system doesn't work like that ;)

Level up grants you stat bonuses in some way, skills are taken through runes, runes which are granted in several ways, either through levelling up, finding them somewhere, and probably rewards as well. Then you purchase the skills you want, takes a bit of getting used to, but overall no problem.
Regarding levelling overall, i do believe that is a matter of balancing to prevent the hero from getting too powerful right away, also you gain more experience if the army is stronger than you than if weaker.. get the scouting skill to keep track of that .

@pkt: Well according to Nike-it, there won't be starforce protection at all. And seeing as he is a 1C rep, i imagine he knows what he is talking about.

Also just a small addition to my impression of the demo:
I like how things change from game to game, bonuses, items, monsters, treasures, even the creatures offered in most of the places change from time to time which really makes a difference. I mean at one time i found an altar of experience laying on a small island where in previous games it hadn't.

[KingImp]

@Kingimp: That is because the skill system doesn't work like that ;)

Level up grants you stat bonuses in some way, skills are taken through runes, runes which are granted in several ways, either through levelling up, finding them somewhere, and probably rewards as well. Then you purchase the skills you want, takes a bit of getting used to, but overall no problem.
Regarding levelling overall, i do believe that is a matter of balancing to prevent the hero from getting too powerful right away, also you gain more experience if the army is stronger than you than if weaker.. get the scouting skill to keep track of that.

Actually, that was my bad and I just figured this out after playing again. I just happened to put my cursor over one of the abilites and saw you could click it to upgrade.

So, any comments on the quests that can't seem to be finished? I think I'm done as I can't go anywhere else and all my fights are finished, yet there are still 3 quests yet to be completed.

[pkt-zer0]

@pkt: Well according to Nike-it, there won't be starforce protection at all. And seeing as he is a 1C rep, i imagine he knows what he is talking about.
Missed that, thanks.
So, any comments on the quests that can't seem to be finished? I think I'm done as I can't go anywhere else and all my fights are finished, yet there are still 3 quests yet to be completed.
Well, since you're supposed to go to another area to finish those, and they aren't in the demo, those'll be unresolved.

[KingImp]

Well, since you're supposed to go to another area to finish those, and they aren't in the demo, those'll be unresolved.

It just seems strange that they would even bother putting those quests in the demo if you couldn't complete them. Just leave them out if that was the case.

[phoenixreborn]

Looks pretty good, a little slow on my machine.

The demo seems fun enough. Plenty to do.

My biggest disappointment is the lack of simultaneous retaliation. That's what made the original game so hard.

[Ryder]

My biggest disappointment is the lack of simultaneous retaliation. That's what made the original game so hard.
Ummmmmmmm, the original never had simultaneous retaliation.

The main thing missing from the original is that when you find a chest you dont get to choose if you want the gold or leadership.

[BurningCold]

I for one had absolutely no downside about the demo. Sure some quests you cant complete, but theres so much you CAN do that it makes up for it and besides, its just a demo. Besides that i thought the graphics were awesome, i loved the special skills that creatures had, like hibernation for bear was funny and the one that turns him into a frenzy. The rage is out of this world awesome, i agree that the swamp's mass attack with the fishes is really good, but i prefer the flaming sword because it looks so awesome :-P Being able to choose how to complete things was nice, such as the case with getting the ring from the robbers wife or with the big red Thorn. Im not completely finished with even my first playthrough but im still reallly hyped up now.

[Capitaine NicOol]

Ummmmmmmm, the original never had simultaneous retaliation.

The main thing missing from the original is that when you find a chest you dont get to choose if you want the gold or leadership.

I love the demo but I was disappointed by that omission :mad:

Is there a reason ?

[hawker]

The main thing missing from the original is that when you find a chest you dont get to choose if you want the gold or leadership.

I see what you mean, but to be fair, everybody ALWAYS chose leadership if they knew what they were doing.

[Nike-it]

I love the demo but I was disappointed by that omission :mad:

Is there a reason ?

It's a question of balance, Hawker is right, that most people will choose leadership. So I don't think it will very interesting to have very strong army at the begining and defeat all enemies just in one turn. During the game you wiil be able to gain enough leadership to play comfortable;)

[phoenixreborn]

Ummmmmmmm, the original never had simultaneous retaliation.

The main thing missing from the original is that when you find a chest you dont get to choose if you want the gold or leadership.

You are wrong. In the original game if you hit with enough damage to kill a stack the stack will die but will also inflict damage on you. In heroes and in this new KB the stack dies without hurting you.

You get a similar choice on leveling up between leadership or stat points. I would like it if chests also gave a choice.

[Capitaine NicOol]

It's a question of balance, Hawker is right, that most people will choose leadership. So I don't think it will very interesting to have very strong army at the begining and defeat all enemies just in one turn. During the game you wiil be able to gain enough leadership to play comfortable;)

IMO that can be balanced with numbers. Don't know if I'm nostalgic or not but I feel something is missing, picking up treasures is a bit blank now gameplay wise. Not a major concern though.

[Coin-coin le Canapin]

Hi ! o/
I've been waiting this game since a long time.
I loves Heroes of Might and Magic serie, as well as Age of Wonders.
There is no new AoW game, and I didn't play HOMM 5 a lot, because it was released too early (too much bugs and stuff), and I didn't play it again even with the released patches that fixed that.
So, I'm very happy to see a new game based on the same concept.
I've played the demo with a mage, and next with a warrior. With this second character, I think I've finished all the available map (locations, monsters, quests) in normal difficulty mode. I've also finished the two first trainings in the castle (level 3 and 6).

So, let me share my opinion. But before, please excuse me if my explanations aren't good, english is not my native language. :]

First, the real time makes the map gameplay more "smooth". The bad point is that the real time doesn't have any real implication in the game.
When you play a mage, you can just wait all as you want until your mana increases to the maximum (even if the rage decreases...)
It also seems that there's no monster respawn or stuff like that. The game seems to be kind of... timeless, and it is sad.

The dig ability is funny, but it really should have a ~1 minute cooldown or something like that, because you can move and press D all the time without paying attention at the clues (the light rays).
The skill trees are a good idea too, but the skills are maybe too much conventional. Difficult to judge their true effect without playing the full game.

The graphics ROCK, and there are tons of nice details. the illustrations are beautiful. The musics are nice too, but the sound effects (fights and so on) are too much... Soft. They have a lack of "power", if you see what I mean.

The talks and descriptions are well written and often funny (the hero's appearance with the cart wheel and pot, the baby taking "his place in your heart and in your wife's equipment slot"...).
The camera : I don't like to have to moving it all the time... and the keyboard controls for the hero are a good idea, but it turns too slow (the hero AND the camera :D).

Actually, the game seems to be very good, and I think I'll buy it for the release.

Oh, and just a question to finish : is it normal that Evil Shoal spell is that powerful in the demo :o?

http://tof.canardpc.com/preview/c733b848-81d2-45f7-a20f-7f01cb3a56dd (http://tof.canardpc.com/show/c733b848-81d2-45f7-a20f-7f01cb3a56dd.html)


edit : oops, I didn't see the thread about reviews, if a mod can move my message... :x

[hawker]

Rage abilities in the demo are very powerful, because in full game you're not getting them until a couple of quests (and levels) later.


I wish the demo had a goal of some sort, and that the quests that lead to unaccessible areas were changed.

[Imperial Dane]

How is picking up treasures blank ? Sure you get no choice, but there is always the chance that you get something else than gold.

But again, quite happy with the demo and the only thing i felt was lacking was some background descriptions for the units, i mean they have them for the items, so why not units ? Could be used to explain bits and pieces.. like why emerald green dragons apparently hate giants ;)

[LordFess]

Remember we are reviewing a DEMO not the FINISHED GAME...IMHO this was a VERY,VERY,VERY nice oportunity for me to try the game out. In fact as DEMOS go it is probably the nicest DEMO I have played in many years...I offer my thanks to all that had a hand in making it available to me so I could see that I am getting much more than my money's worth. I just feel like I have hit the jackpot with this one in every way!! Thanks again!!

[phoenixreborn]

To clarify why there are some 'uncompleteable quests' the demo is the complete game which you can unlock the rest of with a serial number...like it tells you every time you start the demo.

[Jan4]

Ok here goes, first of all I really enjoyed the demo, I love the atmosphere, graphics, gameplay and all the little details. The love that the game creators have put into this game really shows. but there are some minor issues that I would like to point out since mainly all reviews have just underlined the things that work and are really good, I'm pretty amazed that no one else has yet mentioned these.

First of all, the combat, I love the strategic turn-based combat, and the animations are very nice, but already after a 20 battles, I get bored to the slow movement animations, all the charaters take time to rotate, wave their sword etc. all nice details at first, but especially when fighting "cannon fodder" aka. enemies that don't really pose any threat or require much strategy, I would really like an option to speed up the combat animations. All the HOMM games have had this, and I would say it really has proved it's worth, especially later on. This issue is not a show stopper, but slow animations get really annoying later on.

The second issue, very small though, but I can't quite understand, is that the floating numbers when you hit a character show the damage, but not the number of creatures you kill with your blow. (I know, the bottom bar shows it, but the floating numbers are easier to follow IMHO)

The third issue is with the camera-rotation, there really should be way to adjust how fast the camera rotates, and way to invert rotation would also be nice. Rotating the camera is really too fast, it spins like crazy when I try to rotate just a little, maybe an issue with
too good FPS on my PC ;)

[spamm]

Remember we are reviewing a DEMO not the FINISHED GAME
Game in Russia have already let out in April


The camera : I don't like to have to moving it all the time...

Try this mod:
mod_eng_demo_camera.zip (http://www.kbmods.nm.ru/eng/demo/mod_eng_demo_camera.zip)

The maximum distance of the camera is increased with 18 to 36

install:
Put a file "mod_eng_demo_camera.kfs" in a folder "gamedir"\data\mods
for demo: Launch New Game

[Imperial Dane]

To clarify why there are some 'uncompleteable quests' the demo is the complete game which you can unlock the rest of with a serial number...like it tells you every time you start the demo.

Not quite, i don't know why it is there, but it is just a demo, it is the same size as the polish one and that didn't do that..

[Coin-coin le Canapin]

I would really like an option to speed up the combat animations. All the HOMM games have had this, and I would say it really has proved it's worth, especially later on. This issue is not a show stopper, but slow animations get really annoying later on.

The second issue, very small though, but I can't quite understand, is that the floating numbers when you hit a character show the damage, but not the number of creatures you kill with your blow. (I know, the bottom bar shows it, but the floating numbers are easier to follow IMHO)

The third issue is with the camera-rotation, there really should be way to adjust how fast the camera rotates, and way to invert rotation would also be nice. Rotating the camera is really too fast, it spins like crazy when I try to rotate just a little, maybe an issue with
too good FPS on my PC ;)
There is such an option, but with only two values (normal and fast). Fast is nice, but slower than the super fast option in homm.
I guess it's quite easy to create a mod speeding up the animations.
I agree for the second issue you mentioned.
About the camera, you can edit the speed by editing My Documents\My Games\Kings Bounty Demo\Game.ini with notepad.
Look at the lines :
setf ~map_camera_sens 0.200000
setf ~map_camera_wheel_sens -0.500000
setf ~map_camera_dist_sens 15.550000
setf ~arena_camera_sens_x 0.100000
setf ~arena_camera_sens_y 0.100000
setf ~arena_camera_wheel_sens 0.500000

spamm : I put the file in
King’s Bounty - The Legend demo\data\mods, but it doesn't work. Any specifical trick to do with the demo version, or just not working?

[spamm]

spamm : I put the file in
King’s Bounty - The Legend demo\data\mods, but it doesn't work. Any specifical trick to do with the demo version, or just not working?
for demo: Launch New Game
and use mouse wheel ;)

[spamm]

The second issue, very small though, but I can't quite understand, is that the floating numbers when you hit a character show the damage, but not the number of creatures you kill with your blow.
in ...\Documents\My Games\Kings Bounty Demo\game.ini
setf ~showflyingdead 1

[KingImp]

Is there a reason why Rage points disappear when you are running around on the adventure map? I like to not use up all my Rage in easy fights so I would have it available for a hard fight later on, but I keep having to start from 0.

[Coin-coin le Canapin]

for demo: Launch New Game
and use mouse wheel ;)
Grrrreeeat !
Now I can play with a nice top down view.

KingImp : The rage decreases when you move around on the map, and the mana increases. It's normal.
By the way, it decreases slowly and I often can engage a fight with 10+ rage.

[Jan4]

There is such an option, but with only two values (normal and fast). Fast is nice, but slower than the super fast option in homm.
I guess it's quite easy to create a mod speeding up the animations.


Thanks. That is indeed great! I totally missed that option, I even looked for it in the options panel, but somehow I overlooked it since it was under the graphics options.

[Ryder]

You are wrong. In the original game if you hit with enough damage to kill a stack the stack will die but will also inflict damage on you. In heroes and in this new KB the stack dies without hurting you.
That's not simultaneous attacks is it? That is what you call retaliation attacks. Simultaneous attacks is what happened in Heroes 4.

[Imperial Dane]

Let it be Ryder.. some people are NEVER satisfied... Me too.. i mean i want more lore and background information :grin:

[phoenixreborn]

Let it be Ryder.. some people are NEVER satisfied...

I have the right to express my opinion. Ryder misunderstood my explanation.

Besides if you read my original post I said that was the only thing I was unhappy with.

If you like a good deep story game with non-challenging gameplay I can recommend Dreamfall: The Longest Journey.

[Ryder]

I have the right to express my opinion. Ryder misunderstood my explanation.

Besides if you read my original post I said that was the only thing I was unhappy with..
Do you mean you want it where when a stack has been killed they can still retaliate like in KB?

[Ryder]

It's a question of balance, Hawker is right, that most people will choose leadership. So I don't think it will very interesting to have very strong army at the begining and defeat all enemies just in one turn. During the game you wiil be able to gain enough leadership to play comfortable;)
Depends on how much leadership was offered in relation to the gold. If it was say 10% (1000g or 10 leader) I'd lean toward the gold most times.

Doesnt matter now anyways, it isnt in. The game still plays great without it.

[BurningCold]

The leadership thing is completely understandable. It would be way to easy for say a mage to get a huge leadership as would it be for a knight to get an enormous one early on. I think random goodies is just fine.

[pkt-zer0]

If the bonus types are fixed, it'll be harder to unbalance the game, which is a plus in my book. And since gold isn't a hard limit on the number of troops you can have, leadership is clearly preferable. If you had to pay upkeep for your troops, then that choice might've been a more interesting one.

[Fargol]

Game in Russia have already let out in April



Try this mod:
mod_eng_demo_camera.zip (http://www.kbmods.nm.ru/mods/eng/demo/mod_eng_demo_camera.zip)

The maximum distance of the camera is increased with 18 to 36

install:
Put a file "mod_eng_demo_camera.kfs" in a folder "gamedir"\data\mods
for demo: Launch New Game

Well, that link gives me an "Error 404" page (and in Russian!).