Almost done with Legend... What next?

[tripecac]

I bought Legend, AP, and Crossworlds as part of a Steam sale last year.

I've been playing Legend off and on, with decreasing frequency. Right now I've just started Demonis, and am not really interested in adventuring further in this area. Perhaps it's the dark colors, the fireballing, the teleporting and swapping of troop positions, or the constant running back to the first continent to replenish troops that has made this later part of the game seem very tedious, frustrating, and un-fun.

Maybe I need to ditch my human army in favor of a demon army. Maybe I need to invest in learning more spells. Maybe I need to do some side quests to beef up before tackling this area. Maybe this, maybe that. The point is, for a very casual and occasional player like myself, Legend's challenging late-game content is not very enjoyable. It would be nice to finish Legend, but I have no sense of how close I am to being done with it.

I enjoyed the early parts of the game, however. Not as much as Heroes of Might and Magic 3 (which I loved), but still more than HoMM 4 or 5. The early parts of Legend had a nice innocence and simplicity. I enjoyed the overall linearity as well. I wish the whole game could have kept that vibe. But once the undead and demons got involved (which I suppose is natural for late-game material), the fun-factor diminished.

So right now I'm thinking about abandoning Legend and starting Armored Princess, so that I can go back to enjoying early-game content.

My questions:

1) I've read that Crossworlds includes the same campaign as Armored Princess. Does this mean I should start the Crossworlds campaign and skip Armored Princess?

2) Which is easier (and more fun): the Armored Princess or the "expanded" one in Crossworlds (which I assume is called "Orcs on the March")?

3) What is the easiest character class to play in the Armored Princess campaign? I want something that can handle mid-to-late game areas with minimal running back to town for new troops. I played a knight in Legend, so wouldn't mind trying something different.

4) How often do you overhaul/change your armies? I played almost all of Legend using the traditional human/knight armies. I did this because Heroes of Might and Magic favors "pure" armies over mixed ones, and I knew where to find humans in near-infinite supplies.

5) Does the early part of the Armored Princess campaign have a similar "light and easy" feel, like Legend did? Or does it start off more difficult and/or gloomy than Legend?

6) Does the Armored Princess campaign have the same late-game difficult/gloomy/grindy feel as Legend? Does it last as long, or is it easier to push through to get to the end?

7) How close is Demonis to the end of Legend, anyway? The game seems to keep going and going and going...

Thanks!

[tripecac]

Interesting... only 29 views.

Is this forum usually this quiet?

Is there another place I should post my questions?

[Fatt_Shade]

Not quiet forum, just all this questions are already answered in other parts and treads.
1) Crosworlds IS same as Armored princess with added quests/units/items and so on. Basically if you play Ap, you`ll miss some things new in Cw. But if you start Cw you`ll have full Ap play with a bit more difficult orcs race and some new content. Go Cw.

2) Ap is easier. If start both games on same difficulty lvl, Cw is more challenging to finish.

3) Warrior have easiest start because high lds, and highest rage inflow so you`ll have large army and stronger rage skills then other classes to help you in the beginning/mid but later in game only amount of dmg done by units will rise, and gamestyle is almost same. Mage will have most difficult start due to low lds, weak rage skills, and almost no spells because he need to fast lvl up mind skills to use them. But in mid/late game mage will have interesting play with lots of battle strategies (high dmg spells, mass buff/disable, support unit spells and so on). Pala is in middle of other classes - jack of all trades, master of none. For me most dull class, but some ppl love her for free resurrecting solo stack builds. Your choice.

4) Depends what you want in game. If you play for fun, and find interesting items/sets to boost certain race or unit type you can change as often as possible to test that build. But there are many players that start games, than scan save file and look for certain units/items/spells available on start and plan their game on results (solo stack plays, high int mage 80+intellect is goal, 100% crit archer army, Shrek builds, high moral builds, etc ...)

5) Start in Ap/Cw is harder then Legend i think, due to limitations of available things and only 3 islands to visit before you gain access to Verona and higher number of units/items/spells ... After that it`s turning point in game and ussualy ppl make their decision what to do build , it`s about 20-25% of game.

6) Grinding depends on your playstyle. If you change army often and your tactics it wont be boring. But if you keep same thing for 300+ battles, ofc it will get mind numbing, but if it`s your decision to finish game in one particular manner, why complaining on it. On other hand there is some challenges/builds that finish game as soon as possible : 14 fights end game, lowest lvl hero end game ...

7) You can get to Demonis right after coming to dwarf lands, go to underground lake, and fight across narrow pass to demon world gate. I manage to get there (with kiting) on 11 lvl and scout whole demon realm. Or you can go as developers planned : dwarf lands, elven islands then demons, and then back to elfs and orcs.

If you like Legend, try this mod http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthread.php?t=27802 , i liked it and it`s done with lots of effort with low error count.

Good luck, have fun

[tripecac]

Thanks for the reply!

2) Ap is easier. If start both games on same difficulty lvl, Cw is more challenging to finish.

So, for a casual player as myself, do you recommend I play the vanilla AP campaign? Or does the extended campaign (Orcs on the March) offer enough fun-factor to offset the increased difficulty?

3) Warrior have easiest start because high lds, and highest rage inflow

I didn't use rage at all during The Legend. I never figured out how to use it, and it never seemed necessary. Of course, maybe rage would have helped me push through the undead and demon areas faster... but I guess I'll never know!

As for magic, I used some spells in The Legend, but not nearly as often as I did with the Heroes of Might and Magic series. Maybe if I had something like Mass Slow or Chain Lightening I would have been more into the spells but, I just had some basic spells which didn't seem to do much. I wish there were a predictable way of getting higher level spells, like in HoMM (via magic towers). But I guess that's the charm of KB: the lack of predictability and symmetry.

Mage will have most difficult start

I will be playing on the easiest difficulty level. Will Mage still be tough in the early game? Or is it only on harder difficulty levels that it's a real challenge. I don't really want a challenge; I'm more into the exploration!

7) You can get to Demonis right after coming to dwarf lands

I'm already in Demonis, and have done the other areas you listed. How close to the end game is Demonis (when taking the developers' intended route)?

[Fatt_Shade]

For casual player i would still recommend Cw, it gives more options tactics then Ap and for me it was more fun.

Rage skills in Legend are with catch, for every rage spirit you need to do something to use them. In Ap/Cw you get pet dragon on start and there is nothing you must do it`s free. So rage skills are easy to use.

There are mass slow, and chain lightning in game. You must upgrade certain magic schools : for mass slow you maus have 3rd lvl or distortion magic skill in mind tree and then upgrade slow spell to 3rd lvl. For chain lightning order magic skill 3rd lvl, it gets chain effect and shock% (make units hit by lightning shocked, and unable to move). Also there is mass haste, mass bless, mass demon/dragon slayer, mass weakness and so on. For stronger spells you have to invest runes to magic skills and upgrade them.

Difficulty on start will be lower on easy lvl, but still mage will have problems because his best traits are high intellect and lots of spells. Both of those are not available early game. But if you manage to get to Verona there should be lots of interesting things there and beyond to make mage class fun to play.

After Demonis you`ll get new quests and have to get back to Elven islands and pass labirinth to orc territory. So you`re around 80% done.

As for mod i recommended in post above, dont go there. It`s made for harder then impossible play and i guess you wont have fun in it. But have it mind in case you want try harder diff settings later (and if you want to have nightmares of enemy heroes destroying your whole army in 2 turns )

[tripecac]

Hey, thanks.

I just finished Legend! It was actually pretty easy from Demonis through the orc area to the end. Just a bit bleak. I think I was more like 95% done, at least in terms of play time.

I now look forward to starting the Armored Princess campaign. I think I'll do the Orcs on the March.

One thing that annoyed me about the last part of Legend was the need to run all the way back to the main base in order to refuel troops.

Of the 3 classes in AP, which has the least need to refuel specific troops? Which can most easily grab a mix of troops from whatever castle is nearby, and use those troops adequately? I'm guessing if mages do a lot of spell-based damaged, their troops don't matter as much, but then again, mages can't buff the troops like a warrior can, so the troops will be wimpier on defense, and therefore die faster.