lifemare
03-02-2009, 01:12 AM
King's Bounty is now on my top 10 list! Had so much fun playing it. It's just the kind of game i love, and even though it's a remake of a 20 year old title and a little too similar to HOMM, it has enough differences to stand out and shine. Can't tell you how refreshing it is to be able to play a good RPG, wich isn't just a sequel to an already overplayed franchise. And Alleluia! I was starting to think the future held nothing more for old-school gamers like me! One more schmup hit the shelves and i'd shoot myself instead! lol
Also, i have to congratulate 1C for opening a whole section of the forum to the Expansion wishlist. You don't see that very often. Makes you feel like your opinion may really be worth something to what is otherwise a often closed-door development. Thanks ;)
My wishlist for the upcoming game is pretty short, because, frankly, i'd be happy to just play King's Bounty with a new storyline and map - and nothing more.
But since i'm allowed to nitpick :-P
Pretty much the only thing that actually bothered me about KB, was the way you level-up, not only your hero, but the spirits aswell. Having just two options is awful, often none of them are appealing and you have to suck it up, stick with it and wait for your experience to slowly jackpot again. It's just too awkward.
HERO
My suggestion is: award an increase on all attributes (defense, attack, leadership), with the option of distributing it's percentages to a single attribute (use bars, or radio buttons). And on the same level-up screen, to make it more interesting, use the two-option system you have now to offer small bonuses (wich would consist on the sort of things items grant you).
A different way to implement this could be even more attractive in terms of roleplaying complexity. Wich is to do two separate kinds of level-ups: the first, strictly based on overall experience would play out as mentioned (percentage distribution), the second based on specific experience would be a sort of proficiency, but without all it's exhausting listing (Fallout style).
The way i see it, you could get the said bonuses after accumulating enough experience battling certain types of creatures, exploring certain territories, completing certain tasks, etc. For example, after a victory you could get a screen saying something like: "During the battle, your hero discovered a flaw on orc's armor, you should instruct your army to take advantage of this." After wich you could choose between "+1 defense against orcs" or "+1 attack against orcs", or something like that. Other things might give you mana, rage, morale, etc. In a way it would be like having all the different shrines you visit, instead visit you (as part of the story and because of the way you're playing).
SPIRITS
When it comes to spirits, depending on how you play, some powers are pretty useless. Personally the only reason i ever used Lina was to see her level-up, but after a while even that became boring and i eventually stopped using her altogether. On hard and impossible mode, i guess, her chargers could make a difference, but that's about it, as far as i'm concerned. Sleem's evil shoal made my day when i finally got him to serve me, but not much else was very useful. Reaper, of course, changed everything. With careful selection of level-ups all his powers were welcome (except Time Back).
That said, you might get the picture of how hard it is to just level-up what you need, when you're only allowed to choose between two options, regarding 4 powers, each with up to 4 augmentable characteristics. That's 2 choices out of 12-16 possible!
There are lots of cool ways to change this:
- Give them all a skilltree panel like the hero, where all 4 powers' damage, rest, rage (...and who knows what else) could be upgraded with "spirit runes", disregarding all experience.
- Have level-ups based on the powers usage, allowing you to improve those you use more often by selecting one of the four possible upgrades on the level-up screen.
- Have level-ups just for rest and rage, where your choice would affect all powers on a small percentage. And then have the Spirits consume "spirit runes" by dragging them from the hero inventory to the spirit's icon - wich would affect the desired power's damage. A lot more roleplaying control here. For extra fun, Spirits could sometimes address you with things they improved on by themselves (similar to the orc's example above, and wich could increase damage on specific targets, or impact certain powers' attributes like Rockfall's area size). Having the Spirits speak to you also adds some continuity to the tale, instead of just hearing them that first time you get the rage casket and then when they're up to serve you.
Looking forward to read what you all think about this. :grin:
Also, i have to congratulate 1C for opening a whole section of the forum to the Expansion wishlist. You don't see that very often. Makes you feel like your opinion may really be worth something to what is otherwise a often closed-door development. Thanks ;)
My wishlist for the upcoming game is pretty short, because, frankly, i'd be happy to just play King's Bounty with a new storyline and map - and nothing more.
But since i'm allowed to nitpick :-P
Pretty much the only thing that actually bothered me about KB, was the way you level-up, not only your hero, but the spirits aswell. Having just two options is awful, often none of them are appealing and you have to suck it up, stick with it and wait for your experience to slowly jackpot again. It's just too awkward.
HERO
My suggestion is: award an increase on all attributes (defense, attack, leadership), with the option of distributing it's percentages to a single attribute (use bars, or radio buttons). And on the same level-up screen, to make it more interesting, use the two-option system you have now to offer small bonuses (wich would consist on the sort of things items grant you).
A different way to implement this could be even more attractive in terms of roleplaying complexity. Wich is to do two separate kinds of level-ups: the first, strictly based on overall experience would play out as mentioned (percentage distribution), the second based on specific experience would be a sort of proficiency, but without all it's exhausting listing (Fallout style).
The way i see it, you could get the said bonuses after accumulating enough experience battling certain types of creatures, exploring certain territories, completing certain tasks, etc. For example, after a victory you could get a screen saying something like: "During the battle, your hero discovered a flaw on orc's armor, you should instruct your army to take advantage of this." After wich you could choose between "+1 defense against orcs" or "+1 attack against orcs", or something like that. Other things might give you mana, rage, morale, etc. In a way it would be like having all the different shrines you visit, instead visit you (as part of the story and because of the way you're playing).
SPIRITS
When it comes to spirits, depending on how you play, some powers are pretty useless. Personally the only reason i ever used Lina was to see her level-up, but after a while even that became boring and i eventually stopped using her altogether. On hard and impossible mode, i guess, her chargers could make a difference, but that's about it, as far as i'm concerned. Sleem's evil shoal made my day when i finally got him to serve me, but not much else was very useful. Reaper, of course, changed everything. With careful selection of level-ups all his powers were welcome (except Time Back).
That said, you might get the picture of how hard it is to just level-up what you need, when you're only allowed to choose between two options, regarding 4 powers, each with up to 4 augmentable characteristics. That's 2 choices out of 12-16 possible!
There are lots of cool ways to change this:
- Give them all a skilltree panel like the hero, where all 4 powers' damage, rest, rage (...and who knows what else) could be upgraded with "spirit runes", disregarding all experience.
- Have level-ups based on the powers usage, allowing you to improve those you use more often by selecting one of the four possible upgrades on the level-up screen.
- Have level-ups just for rest and rage, where your choice would affect all powers on a small percentage. And then have the Spirits consume "spirit runes" by dragging them from the hero inventory to the spirit's icon - wich would affect the desired power's damage. A lot more roleplaying control here. For extra fun, Spirits could sometimes address you with things they improved on by themselves (similar to the orc's example above, and wich could increase damage on specific targets, or impact certain powers' attributes like Rockfall's area size). Having the Spirits speak to you also adds some continuity to the tale, instead of just hearing them that first time you get the rage casket and then when they're up to serve you.
Looking forward to read what you all think about this. :grin: