My thoughts about crossworlds

[fld88]

I don’t think it is fair calling any of the King’s Bounty games unpolished. There were a very few minor inconsistencies but overall I would rate all 3 as having above average polish. I never crash.

But beyond polish, and as a programmer myself, I’m amazed of how thoughtful the programmers and designers were in putting so much thought into every nuance of these games--the design, the interface, the playability, the graphics, the spells, the items, the creatures ,etc. I’ve never seen a game that had so many useful spells and items that you have to change up depending on the situation. I’m really impressed with the Kings Bounty series.

That said I have one disappointment in the Crossworld’s expansion so far. Previously I enjoyed playing as a mage the most and was able to get through the games with just the right amount of difficulty. However I gave up on playing March of the Orcs as a mage--it was just too much of a hard, old slog and I while I know I could have eventually got through it I was not having fun. However it is great fun playing as a warrior.

[onepiece]

@ckdamascus; then how many rune mages and mind runes would you need to resurrect a BD? 5 of them according to me and 20 mind runes, which may seem like a lot but if you play carefully that may be enough (but that seems to take resurrection skill into consideration so maybe a little less)

There are new things but most of them are very small compared to what AP brought. Only the orcs are almost totally different and even some spells are the spirit's abilities from TL. That's why hardcore fans are a little dissapointed and maybe angry XD

@Dwagginz; you totally get what I want to say. Of course this type of gameplay may be very niche like but that doesn't mean they can open to a broader audience if the do a better work (maybe more marketing and voices)

@metathron; agree with you on the cost (maybe they are gathering resources (gold?XD) for KB2?. I also agree that recolored units don't allow for a better immersion but I also agree with BB that they allow for very different strategies so it's not as bad as it could have been (think generic hack'n slash)

@fld88; Yep. Most of the spells, while you may not use them, are very varied and allow for very different type of styles and you will have them because you know, sometime, you will need them.

Although I think the more spells there are, the mage class gets the most of them (more mana and easier to develop mage skills and do more damage with spells)

I wouldn't call the game unpolished but more that the developers don't look at the game after they finish it (and we have pointed almost all the issues here in the forum) so it's more that they are being lazy.

Now I'm playing as a mage in hard and made a kite run. Couldn't believe that you could get to level 21 without fighting and whoever said it is right. You can even get up to level 23 perhaps.

[ckdamascus]

Originally Posted by onepiece

@ckdamascus; then how many rune mages and mind runes would you need to resurrect a BD? 5 of them according to me and 20 mind runes, which may seem like a lot but if you play carefully that may be enough (but that seems to take resurrection skill into consideration so maybe a little less)

Technically one, practically, a handful. Or, if you have shaman to heal th black dragon, just one.

If you can heal the unit to max, then use a resurrect, then you can revive the unit. So if you lost one black dragon, and it was fully healed, you could get away with one.

Originally Posted by onepiece

Now I'm playing as a mage in hard and made a kite run. Couldn't believe that you could get to level 21 without fighting and whoever said it is right. You can even get up to level 23 perhaps.

I really don't know what it is. I usually have a hard time beating impossible mage no-loss without kiting, but this time it was MUCH easier. No need to kite at all, and I didn't even farm out specific items.

The better unit distribution, ability to pick the right units with training schools, and rune mage really have altered the game quite a bit to make Impossible No Loss games easier.

The mid-game is trickier though since the orcs are ridiculously overpowered.

Regarding polish, admittedly the game does seem a little unpolished (AP) but it was super solid and stable (AP).

Crossworlds has some bugs unfortunately. (the shaman trophy pop up bug) and dialogue bugs too on Debir, etc.

That said, it is still pretty darn good and I highly recommend it to everyone.

[Dwagginz]

Originally Posted by onepiece

@Dwagginz; you totally get what I want to say. Of course this type of gameplay may be very niche like but that doesn't mean they can open to a broader audience if the do a better work (maybe more marketing and voices)

I'm not disagreeing, but I think all KB could manage (In my opinion) is roughly the level of HoMM, and that's if the series is lucky and somehow Katauri or 1C (Who owns the license?) can get a deal with a bigger publisher, ergo more money for development.

The polish point I think changes on what you apply it to. In terms of gameplay? For the most part, KB is polished. Visually? It's polished. The translation? Good at best. It's not perfect though, and suffers from a number of minor mistakes and poor translations.

[onepiece]

Originally Posted by Dwagginz

I'm not disagreeing, but I think all KB could manage (In my opinion) is roughly the level of HoMM, and that's if the series is lucky and somehow Katauri or 1C (Who owns the license?) can get a deal with a bigger publisher, ergo more money for development.

The polish point I think changes on what you apply it to. In terms of gameplay? For the most part, KB is polished. Visually? It's polished. The translation? Good at best. It's not perfect though, and suffers from a number of minor mistakes and poor translations.

The problem is that there are not such high profile games from eastern Europe and Russia (except Metro 2033 and The Witcher (great game)and some others) so I think it could be hard to get a publisher with a game that already has a niche style of gameplay. But since it's way similar to HoMM, maybe Ubisoft or someone would take it into consideration (of course that depends if the ones who own King's Bounty want to)
But iIf they get one, they would get an immense increase in popularity worldwide.

The only problem from the visuals comes from the fact that many units (as in almost all other games) are very repetitive. I would ask for more unique designs and not copy/paste design and change colors (inquisitor/priest)