King's Bounty 2 - Coming 2020
 

Use this thread to discuss about the upcoming King's Bounty 2.
Links:
Official site: https://kingsbounty2.com/en/
Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1...ngs_Bounty_II/

Well can't say I am all over this, despite waiting for ages for the news...
The CGI is nice, yes, but it just looks like a generic medieval setting. The fantasy creatures are thrown in almost as an afterthought, and we never even see magic used in the trailer. The designs are not as vibrant and cartoonish as in the first games, which was its unique style, and now look like any other RPG's. These armored soldiers could be from For Honor or the Witcher, for all I know.
The very few screens showing combat seem to indicate instead of 1 unit representing a troop now there will be many in one hex, same as in Age of Wonders.
https://kingsbounty2.com/wp-content/...stria.0001.png
The preorders are rather ridiculous... you only get certain units and items if you buy the more expensive editions? Heck the Rage Casket (from the first game) is only in the most expensive edition...
The story certainly seems to be more in focus than in the old games. But I dunno overall. It seems to be Game of Thrones style low fantasy as opposed to the high fantasy of the old games where magic and wonder was on every corner...

God, we've been waiting for this forever so I'm glad that we're finally getting a sequel.

Looks very DIFFERENT. Time will tell whether it's good different or bad different.

I'm just playing it's not Disciples II to Disciples III different...

Or MOO2 to MOO3 different...

Well, they said we'd hear something sooner than we'd expect. And eventually I expected it to be in another lifetime. So they were right.

Seems it's truly something new, though not sure about the more "realistic" graphics. In the end it's about gameplay though. They got my attention again.

That's what I think too. But they still only showed us one playable character out of three and there also are some easter eggs hidden in the Art section of the site, like the dwarf and the giant on the left of the first image (the Archmage too, but that's mostly a reference to the old games), or the archer who seems to be an elf. What I'm saying is that they still have a lot to show us and that they just can't spoil the Magic and everything from the beginning.

I could care less what they do with the graphics, as long as they deliver on the game play and remember that this is a FANTASY GAME. Magic, elven lands, undead islands, pirate beaches, demonis, ect are what makes these games unique and interesting. Based on the trailer it looks a bit too...medieval. We'll see though, either way i'm absolutely thrilled to see another one coming and I'm in. Let's see who in this forum will be the first to complete a no loss run :twisted:

While I agree that it definitely has a different feel, I am excited about it. I am not going to judge too much from the photoes. They really needed to update the game drastically for it to feel like a king's bounty 2 instead of just another expansion. I am looking forward to the more complex tactically battle. I wonder if we still see our hero from above, or if the hero will now move in third person? It could look like both.

I really hope "no loss runs" are not possible anymore and the game has a truly challenging flavour.

The graphics are not important for me, I'll judge the product based on the AI improvements, general gameplay and inner balance.

True. Everyone I talked to praises the graphics while IMHO I was totally fine with the old game's graphics. As you say, however, it looks too medieval.
I do hope there will be more magic and fantasy, not just micromanaging a human kingdom... because that was the campaign of Heroes of Might and Magic VI too, and it was incredibly boring.

Watch this video:
It's an interview with the team making King's Bounty 2. It's in russian, but you should still be able to understand what they say if you enable english subtitles. It also contains some gameplay and a lot of cutscenes (and even a design for a dwarf unit if you spot it; Edit: now I uploaded two photos with the dwarf unit).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhtQ5no8MgQ

Interesting video, and it answered some questions but unfortunately it seems to confirm my fear that they're getting rid of most of the fantasy elements. I'm sure most of us agree that we want crazy spells like Armageddon lighting the battle field on fire. We want a huge ice snake coming out of the ground. We want the god damn grim reaper himself being able to be summoned to wreak havoc on our enemies. I don't particularly care if something is realistic tbh, and for an RPG to try to go in that direction all it can really do is limit the creativity of those who are designing the game, because now they have a narrowing realm of possibilities. I'm only being this critical because this series is in my top 3 best of all time, and I would be devastated if it seems too repetitive. Either way, I'm definitely buying the game, no question there but I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't be pissed if I'm stuck in the same area (same scenery) fighting only increasingly larger groups of peasants, archers, and pikemen

I agree with you, but the guys from 1C said they want to implement a lot of fantasy creatures an that we will see them when they are ready, so it's guaranteed we will get at least dwarves (you can spot them in many places, as I said before), elves (they talked about them a little) and very probably orcs, since the game is also inspired from the movie Warcraft. But they also said absolutely nothing about the spells (the spellbook exists, but cannot be used in the beginning of the game, or is not properly working right now) and there is no rage anymore (or it's still not implemented). Now, the worst part seems to be the fact that the game is also made for console, so the controls and menu will be extremely simple (this is also probably one of the reasons why there are no dialog options).

What bugs me right now is the fact that it seems like it is third person. I played King's bounty from the very first release back in 89-90. I am used to seeing it from the top. I love that about the game. Riding or sailing around deciding which mob to attack in order to avoid casualties.

Sadly, the developers said it's not a strategy anymore, but an RPG with tactical battles, the game being centered on the story, not looting and battles. And that's why it's 3rd person.

Yeah. I think they really missed the mark with that decision considering that there are so many games based on that. The way King's Bounty played was rather unique in that sense (if you leave out HMM). I wonder how skill trees will work, if they are even a part of the game. I really loved the achievement ingame bonuses as well as the skill trees. I hope those exist in this version as well. That's what drives you to go for no loss battles ect

I am also really concerned about the fact that they keep saying it is not a strategy game. Well, I hope they do consider different types of damage as in the original, and so on. I really like how the battles look, but I fear that they might be cutting all the fun tactical elements of king's bounty. It would suck as I've been looking forward to a sequal for years. It also makes me think the replayability of the original might be gone. A good story with strong cutscenes is all good and dandy, but if it comes at the expense of good and interesting gameplay, then it is a bad thing. I've replayed crossworlds so many many times, and I had hoped king's bounty 2 would deliver the same kind of replayability. If it is just like an RPG adventur, there really is little reason to replay the game. Using different tactics, spells, playstyles ect, is what made the previous game replayable.

I agree with you. I don't really think they removed the damage types though, since in one of the screenshots below it says "air damage" and it isn't that practical for units like dragons or mages (they shoot fire here) to not deal fire damage. But one thing they got rid of seems to be attack and defense. If you look at the screenshot with lvl 1 Archers and lvl 3 Celestial Warriors you will see that there is no defense or attack stat. Instead, the defense might be replaced by "armor", a stat showing how much armor the unit has on it (for example, Death Knights at lvl 1 have 60% armor). Still, I don't know how relevant "armor" is, since not all armors have the same durability.

Ahh. Well spottet. Good to know that they keep the different types of damage. As far as attack and defense, it is possible that some armor rating on the hero affects the armor on the units the same way defense did in the old version. I kind of think you need something like that if one of your classes is a warrior.

That's quite possible.

About replayability, the developers decided to create slightly different stories for each class and different endings and routes depending on your choices, so there's still a lot of replayability on the RPG part of the game.

True. I really enjoyed the random units and random items though, so I hope they include that. I loved trying to find trolls, or having a run where I am lucky and finding all the right items for a powerful hero. Those things are fun. We'll see if it is included. What I hated about warriors of the north, was that the first 3-4 islands, all units ect was locked in place. It made it a drag to replay that part of it.

I agree with you :grin:
EDIT: I forgot to mention that you were right about the armor stat. One of the photos shows the hero geared up and the army with a 7% bonus to the stat.

Wow. Looks really disappointing, like a generic Total War / Might & Magic: Heroes VI hybrid. Won't be holding my breath. :rolleyes:

I am disappointed, too. I waited 4 years just to see this instead of a continuation to the original King's Bounty lore, using the same ol' engine or a new, but similar engine to the previous one.

That's an strategy game on my book, and it's supposed to be something else. Let's be patient and hope for the best. I have played this saga for way too many years to let some first impressions easily bring me down.

There was a guy on Steam who posted a link to another interview with the devs of KB2, here it is: https://www.gametech.ru/articles/1350/
Also on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=8Q60VNcomTM

This is another interview, still in russian, but it contains waaaay more info on KB2 than the last one and also photos of spells and lots of new units (some of them are similar to newer HoMM units, like the golems or the elementals): http://www.gamer.ru/everything/king-...voe-znakomstvo
Still, there are major flaws, for example you need to have a certain leadership indicator to get dragons or something like this, which is absurd.

Is this King's Bounty we loved?
 

I loved King's Bounty series more than any other game.
I loved it's comic style graphic.
I loved it's top viewed battlefields like chess
I loved it's tons of spells that gives us many ways to succeed in combat.
I loved It's tons of really different units each with unique playing style.
I loved kiting enemies.
I loved randomizing items, units, monsters - endless different game playing.
I loved deep strategic combat - KB was a better chess for me.

Now have a look at the infos we have about King's Bounty 2.
- beloved graphics gone
- hard to get a battlefield overview
- combat is more rpg than strategy
- beloved fantasy is gone, medieval rules now
- hex field filled with several units (KB 1 had a single unit with numbers)
- don't know if we have any randomizing but i'm in fear it's gone too

This new KB 2 is more like Blackguards than a title from King's Bounty series.
This KB 2 is not Kings Bounty.

Additional - with a release of this game as a King's Bounty sequel, 1C destroyed any chance that we will see a real KB sequel in future

I will continue playing all KB 1 until my time on this earth is coming

I have to say, King's Bounty 2 WILL have tons of units (I read russian reviews and some of them even contain artworks of dragons and the devs confirmed that they will add many units) and probably lots of spells, but nothing more, everything else being just like you said.

I would have blindly bought a new King's Bounty based on the "old" engine.

This KB II feels like a Fallout 76...

Another game from a series I would have bought blindly, but was warned that it wasn't *anything* like a previous game.

Ah well, "Outer Worlds" is a Fallout without being a Fallout....maybe we'll be getting a King's Bounty that isn't a King's Bounty in the future as well.

One can hope and dream...

So are the forums dead now? Katauri did not even make a KB2 section?

Looks like so. Besides, not Katauri is making the new KB, but the so called "1C Company" (the new one). The same guys who said the new KB will be only 30% battles instead of 70%.

When the game will be released? I'm really anxious about the new iteration of the saga, and hope for the best.

In the Q3, I think, but the game is gonna be an RPG with armies limited to a max of ~12 soldiers (it was said in the dev dairies, so it's official).

Yeah, I know. Still hyped. I have played the game series for thousands of hours (literally) And I love RPGs too.

I am hyped too, but I am more interested in battles than in the RPG part (at least for now, because who knows, maybe the story is actually very good) in a KB game. Besides, since they made the battles a less important part of the game, they could at least let us have thousands of soldiers, since this and the "always changing army" thing is what bothers me the most. But again, I might be wrong and like the new game the way it is.
I have played the KB games a lot too, but only for ~ 500-700 hours (4 times each game, WotN only with Ice and Fire, since it makes the 3rd game more interesting).
Also, ever played HoMM games? I discovered the series several months ago, and, as a KB fan, I couldn't help but like the game. If you didn't, maybe you will like it too, since it's similar to KB in certain aspects (especially battles and units) and some parts from KB were inspired by it. As a side note, the 3rd installment is the best, the fifth is pretty good too (with expansions), but the 6th and the 7th aren't that much (their community is almost non-existent, since Ubisoft knows how to destroy game franchises).

Yep, I know the saga quite well. :) Heroes of M&M 3 was my last installment, though. Very good indeed, but I got tired of the mechanics eventually. I think I'm probably more attached to Age of Wonders, specially to Shadow Magic.

The battles from Heroes are simmilar to the ones in KB, yet I find the latter much more varied, complex and inmersive.

By the way, until KB 2 comes out, have you tried The Trent war unofficial campaign for Crossworlds or Matt's mod for the Legend? I recommend both without hesitation. The first overhaul enemy heroes AI (among other things), and Trent War is simply too well designed and balanced out to overlook (moreover, I put my grain of salt on it myself)

Yes, I played the Trent War too. There are many visual "bugs" (unpainted parts of the map, bland decoration, etc.), but maybe that wasn't the strong point of the creator. The scripts used in the campaign where pretty great, just like the camapign itself. However, it did get kinda boring after reaching Upper Trent, due to lack of "real" dialogs and plot. I also remember an island full of isles. That was my favorite part. The decorations where better thought there, in my opinion. I think I'm more attached to the "epicness" of games, not necessarily to the balance or certain other technical stuff, like those introduced in Trent.

What version did you play with? I don't remember so many places where the lack of painting felt weird or annoying.

I agree about the islands area, though. That part is full of details.

Epicness is overrated for me. I'm tired of it. You have tons of games with such a tone.

On the other hand, on my book, balance is key. The absence of dominant strategies, the unpredictability and real challenge mean all much more to my taste. I play on Impossible, by the way.

I play on impossible, too (first time was Normal, the rest Impossible). One of the places left unpainted were on some sand island arena, on the dino island (and man, every time a "cutscene" played, I was always seeing that part; however, I turned animations faster later on). I'm not exactly referring to "epicness" (just couldn't find the word for it back then), but more to the feeling of the game, of the visuals, etc. Just like some guy said, even though you give him a game that is well-balanced and well-made in terms of strategy and other stuff, if the visuals and decor aren't good at all, he might not even play it. Now, I wasn't saying Trent looks horrible, only that it should need more attention in several (visual) areas, especially Lower Trent and starting isle.

And about the balance and strategies (and all other stuff you mentioned), that is still mandatory. I never said I didn't really care about that. Only that I also like to have very nice visuals (one of the reasons I chose HotA over WoG for HoMM3). And nowadays, there are many games that just tend to become more grey, more darker in terms of graphics. HoMM7 without color-enhancing mod is all just a sea of grey-toned colors, and let's not even talk about Diablo 4 (I never played any of the Diablo games, but one of my relatives did). Even KB2 lacks that amazing UI, replacing it with a grey-toned Xbox game UI, a thing that I dislike.

Anyway, I've gotten a little off-topic. I'm sorry for confusing you with my epicness :-). That's not what I really meant. And balance and tactical part of the game are still a big part (but in KB they really exist, Trent too), but it's always really nice to include good decorations when making a map or anything of sorts, in my opinion (one more reason why HoMM7 is pretty bad; let's not forget the awkward animations). But again, it might not have been the creator's strong point, so I don't blame him (I think it's him), even though the adventure map was relatively well made.

KB2 Dragons
 

I almost forgot. Since this is a thread about King's Bounty 2, did you ever read that interview with the devs from gamescom 2019 in which they showcased the griffins and other creatures, including an armored dragon (gotta be honest, that dragon looked pretty dope, and no, it's not the one from trailer, I think it was rusty-colored)? I'm asking this because I can't seem to find it anymore, and all my history from before december is gone since I re-installed Windows.
If it helps, I think one of the guys from the interview was called "John" or something similar. They also showed differences between KB2 and older games.

Eek, focus on immersion.
 

https://youtu.be/DQCpJ6eOBpo

Well, this game can be either incredibly awesome or just not my kind of game anymore. The focus on immersion has me worried since resources are going to be put into silly things I don't care much about. Sure we had "fetch quests" but to slow that down anymore would drive me up the wall especially with forced 1st person view. <shudders>

I sort of like the idea that you have to adjust your armies later, but we shall see how that plays out. Sometimes there is an allure to using that super peasant army, but I get a feeling that meta will be gone for good.

I did like the idea of terrain being used to your advantage, but too much "fluff" in a combat heavy game doesn't add value, it just adds toil.

I am hopeful but also expecting it to not be the type of game I want to continue to play. Man. The old 1C King's Bounty games were really something, eh? Going to miss them.

Yeah, the old ones are awesome :grin:. Replaying The Legend right now.
I was just too lazy to post the Dev Diary, so thanks. It's not like it contained something that was not said before (everything in it was known for months, weeks), and the only different part was game duration, which changed (according to older sources and this dev diary) from 20-30 hours to 30-40 hours, but it still has a lot of information for someone who won't start googling every russian site (for hours, not joking), gaming blog and all steam comments in search of all the details :grin:.

We should remember that the old Katauri team is long gone, and I doubt that any of the original creators are working on the new game.
1C aren't the most trustworthy company either, just remember what flops WotN and Dark Side were. Those games were mostly just milking the original engine, and felt more like an amateur mod for Legend/AP, than an actual game in the series.
Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed playing them, but they were nowhere near the quality of the original games.

I'd recommend setting expectations rather low, if at all.

I myself have enjoyed WotN (with Ice & Fire, ofc) because it's the longest KB game and has tens of new units and races. The music was also top notch and so were the locations. It was good in my opinion and is mostly worthy of being together with the first two (tons of new stuff, new spell school and spells, etc.). But the Dark Side... It has units and some new stuff (however, not as nice as in WotN), but the game was damn imba and the story was just like "since you're so worthy, we already won!" kinda thing, where after that you just carry on some "repetitive" actions in no exact order (I usually looted all maps at level 3 because the charts were easy to obtain through tricks). Let's not forget, bugs (which mostly don't exist in WotN as of now) and -100% leadership Red Dragons (other units too, but it's enough to use a wanderer spell and you literally have 1488694392+ R Dragons) and 200+ Dragon Riders (there's an easter egg to get unlimited princesses, btw).

Actually, this is not the same team that made the last two KBs. This is a new one, that made only one game before, if I remember right. Some russian game called II Sturmovik 2 or something like that.

Hmm, I'll take a look at Google in search for the interview.

Nah, sadly, it's down. I found it again (the link), but it was no more. Probably the KB2 team didn't want us to see all of that new stuff (elementals, griffins, dragon, etc.) right now. Also, the dragon was quite similar to a Dragon Rider without a rider.

Look, this is the link I found on 3rd page: http://www.gamer.ru/everything/king-...voe-znakomstvo

Edit: I just started to frantically search through the internet archives...

Edit 2: No luck. The page had no archive yet.

Ah the forums are back at last. I tried a few times and they were down like a month ago.
Not really liking the new game so far. It did away with the units system (now every unit is just 1 unit, not a stack of units), dialed back the colorful fantasy elements, and the units revealed so far are almost all just boring variation of human fighter and archer. No magic so far either. The graphics are OK but boring grey/brown realistic medieval... not the Heroes of Might and Magic 1-2-3-4 look that King's Bounty expanded upon.
And who the heck ever wanted a Dragon Age style NPC discussion system from King's Bounty? The bread and butter of the game was always tactical combat. If I wanted to play an RPG I'd play an RPG. A TBS just needs a storyline with a few dialogue trees every now and then...

All in all this looks more like a sequel to Blackguards than KB.

Yes, I gave up during WotN. I never finished that game or the next one - the bugs, the unbalanced new units, the terrible map planning... it was like they restarted the game from scratch using the existing assets, and remaking all the mistakes that were fixed the last two times... My understanding was the original programmers and designers were sent over to Royal Quest. Why could they not get them back?

WotN with Ice and Fire is actually a nice game, at least now, with the bugs fixed (I don't think I encountered any bug in my four IaF playthroughs). I really like it, especially because it has many more units and other stuff (music is also top-notch and the new, IaF areas are good too).

KB2 units are not THAT boring, at least if you have read russian blogs with images of interviews. You probably didn't read the entire discussion, where I said they are gonna include griffins, elementals, a really good-looking dragon (quite the only really wonderful thing in the game right now), but I don't blame you, since we talked a lot.

And yeah, TBS -> RPG is totally not the way; they should have done something like Knight's Bounty or something instead of a sequel.

Also, Dev Diary 2 was released!
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1135300

This is when you can see someone repair a golem like those in HoMM7: https://youtu.be/Aki19o0iHW8?t=402

Edit: I found a dragon troop in this video about KB2: https://youtu.be/7JxNWELTKaI?t=815

The dragon is here: https://youtu.be/7JxNWELTKaI?t=838

It seems to be the same as the one I was talking before. Battledogs (clearer image) are also shown, together with the wolves, bears, stonemen, skeletons, dual-wielding black-haired protagonist (does that flag something?), thieves, more skeletons, Resurrection spell, Lightning Bolt, rocs (brown eagles, like those in HoMM3), a crossbow (skeleton wields it).

Edit 2: Also, is anyone here? Steam is relatively active, to be honest, but the official forum is all dormant.

Edit 3: ...

I wonder if the lack of discussion about KB2 is a reflection of a lack of interest in the game? Or maybe it's just that these boards, and message boards in general, are a thing of the past...

Pretty sure they are mostly a thing of the past. The lack of people coming here made me stop giving updates about the game. And there is also the lack of interest in KB2 which contributes to the low number of people being curious about the game, as well as many of the old fans not even knowing about KB2.

I should also mention, I still visit this forum daily, but stopped looking at this thread since nobody literally said anything for months, compared to other boards about KB.

What other boards are there about KB
 

that are updated more often?

Not a fan of the color and 1st/3rd person view. If KB and Eador have a baby, then I will absolutely like it.

No. My interest in the game is HUGE. I have tons of expectations and curiosity. KB has become throughout the years one of my favourites games of all times.

Other forum?
 

Its there a more active one?