Official wish list for King's Bounty 2

[amyndris]

I love TBS but it would be accurate to say that it is a very niche genre now. Look at the top tier TBS games in the past, many of the franchises have fallen. X-com's next iteration will be a FPS. Front Mission is now a FPS. Master of Orion has no sequel in place and I would argue that it's spiritual successor is Sins of the Solar Empire a RTS.

Many other TBS franchises have gone in hibernation like Master of Magic/Orion.

Even the active TBS series like King's Bounty, Heroes of Might and Magic and Disciples, Fire Emblem Disgaia and even arguably Advanced Wars don't see large install bases compared to FPS or RTS.

With the sole exception of Civilization, TBS don't really have a large target audience anymore. Oh how I miss the 1990s.

[ckdamascus]

Originally Posted by amyndris

I love TBS but it would be accurate to say that it is a very niche genre now. Look at the top tier TBS games in the past, many of the franchises have fallen. X-com's next iteration will be a FPS. Front Mission is now a FPS. Master of Orion has no sequel in place and I would argue that it's spiritual successor is Sins of the Solar Empire a RTS.

Many other TBS franchises have gone in hibernation like Master of Magic/Orion.

Even the active TBS series like King's Bounty, Heroes of Might and Magic and Disciples, Fire Emblem Disgaia and even arguably Advanced Wars don't see large install bases compared to FPS or RTS.

With the sole exception of Civilization, TBS don't really have a large target audience anymore. Oh how I miss the 1990s.

I never played Sins of the Solar Empire, but Galactic Civilization II is the closer spiritual successor. It also does not seem to crash as much as MOO2 did.

[onepiece]

Well I gotta say I also enjoy some fast-paced action (FPS, shooters or the great metal slug XD (X is the best)) from time to time (sometimes KB gets to slow and TIME consuming XD (which is good considering all the bickering now because of the short-expensive games debate). So newer TBS should be faster (which is contrary to their spirit but not incompatible), that way they could target a wider audience (and add voices Katauri, the masses claim for them; even when the voice sucks and add nothing but BS).

Still I think that Katauri could have made a MMO of KB (they had most of it done anyway with the singleplayer games; only add abilities to do multiplayer battles, and team battles, way more items and units, spells, etc. and more exploration).
I still think they missed a great online niche (multiplayer TBS)

[Metathron]

Originally Posted by onepiece

So newer TBS should be faster (which is contrary to their spirit but not incompatible), that way they could target a wider audience

Sounds like what is happening with Heroes 6, but I won't say it's a bad thing until I have played the game.

[KarlosCV]

Originally Posted by Metathron

Sounds like what is happening with Heroes 6, but I won't say it's a bad thing until I have played the game.

The last HOMM installment was a huge letdown, at least for me, I just lost interest in the middle of the game and never came back. Uninspired, dull, tired.

Recently though I bought Disciples II on Steam for a few bucks and looking fwd to play it. Anybody knows this game? Supposedly the closest relative to the KB franchise.

And what about that Fantasy Wars game? Anybody can recommend this?

Anyway, if Katauri wants to play the most competitive, expensive and crowded league with the big boyz, it's just an oppportunity for some other small developer to fill the TBS niche, which - in my opinion - is certainly not negligible. The HOMM franchise made tons of money on it, Disciples and KB was also relatively very successful, so there are still lots of TBS gamers waiting for somebody to give them what they want.

[onepiece]

@KarlosCV; Well I played fantasy wars but it's more like a blend between RTS and TBS.

You have mission with objectives like any RTS but play in a defined battlefield in turns and your units can be upgraded, and can get new ones (buy, join, etc.) and there are some items that make them stronger.

I can recommend it but I prefer KB (although maybe you should play Elven Legacy, the sequel; I tried it a little and found it to be more polished than the first).
Look for some vids at YouTube to see if it suits you.

I also played HOMM V (never played another one) and was playing it until KB TL arrived and byebye HOMM!! (Seriously KB is way better than Heroes; maybe Ubisoft will want to buy KB and make KB2?)

[Dwagginz]

Originally Posted by onepiece

maybe Ubisoft will want to buy KB and make KB2?

No no no no no no no no no no!

The number of these types of game are tiny, we don't need one publisher to own two of them as there'd be no competition.

[onepiece]

Originally Posted by Dwagginz

No no no no no no no no no no!

The number of these types of game are tiny, we don't need one publisher to own two of them as there'd be no competition.

I meant that since Ubisoft is the owner of Heroes and since they have been staggering as of late, maybe they would like to do a game that while not been as "popular" as Heroes, is way better and faster (they will need to get rid of all the amount of text though)

Since when is KB competition against Heroes? Is not as if KB is so marketed against it in the first place. The fact that they are similar doesn't mean they are competing and make the genre evolve.

EDIT: Better to have 1 good quality game than 2 bad games (not that CW was bad but it lacked the quality and quantity of the previous installment (way to edition of the year)). And is not as if KB2 is gonna come soon from Katauri or 1C since they re busy with Royal Quest (until 2013 there won't be a new KB game)

[Dwagginz]

King's Bounty is, as mentioned above, one of three "major" franchises in this niche genre. Ubisoft have HoMM/MMH, 1C/Katauri have KB and Akella (I think) have Disciples. If 1C/Katauri wants to "beat" Ubisoft, they have to innovate. In return, Ubisoft have to innovate to beat KB. Even if KB isn't directly going after HoMM/MMH's sales, it is still a competing IP.

Ubisoft have been "staggering", as you put it, because they've done it to themselves. They don't put out many titles worth caring about, they alienated their PC userbase (Arguably their biggest) with their absolutely appalling DRM measures, and they seem happy to refresh the same IP again and again. Silent Hunter is on #5, Settlers are on #7, Assassin's Creed is on #3, Prince of Persia has had 5 or so titles since the days of the PS2/Gamecube and so on. They don't put anything out that's really worth buying.

[onepiece]

Yep but the principal problem with KB is the way is marketed. Did you see some big previews on important sites for KB? Some big trailer or videos? A big marketing campaign and a lot of advertising everywhere?
Today games that make money are: way more marketed than produced (in terms of amount of cash expended) or extremely addictive (KB falls in this category, at least for us in the forum). Maybe Katauri or 1C don't have enough to market it at world wide scale but if they want to make it bigger, they should associate with a big western publisher.


I still don't think that KB is competition against HoMM (competition to me is more like Call of Duty versus Medal of Honor, or WoW vs Conan, Warhammer, Aion, Lineage, etc.). It's true that HoMM and KB are similar but the market they are aimed is different, therefore I don't think they are competing even though the IP are very similar.

It's true that Ubi has made a lot of refreshments to their franchises but even KB has made that to an extent (CW is more of a refinement over AP and even so lacks the innovations that made AP great; it's way too edition of the year)

Of course I would prefer if Katauri made a sequel to KB, but as it doesn't seem to be happening anytime soon, maybe a new developer could do it and try the new things we keep asking for?
Even if the game would be bad, we could play the old games (the problem would be the damage to the brand )