King Arthur; or MTW2 the RPG

[GenVec]

http://www.kingarthurthewargame.com/main.html

So I had a chance to play this at a friend's place yesterday and must say that I've been quite impressed by it. It's a gem of a game from somewhere east of the Vistula.

Basically you have a fantasy Medieval Total War style campaign map with an extensive character manager - somewhere beyond the Total War series but short of Crusader Kings. Your battleground is Arthurian Legend Britain, complete with Giants, the UnSeelie, the Green Knight (recruitable), etc, etc.

The campaign is driven by storyline quests that unlock and give you objectives to accomplish. Sort of like the Senate in Rome Total War, but not a completely awful game-ruining mechanic. So for example, I moved Sir Kay and his army to the Lady of the Lake who told him to go to Scotland and fight the Pics. It's actually sort of cool.

There's a morality mechanic as well with four axis, Tyranny/Righteousness and Christianity/Old Faith. As you move down the various axis you'll be rewarded with special units and abilities - so if you become a Good Christian King you'll possibly unlock something like Grail Knights, whereas Tyrannical Pagans will get Giants and witches and fireballs.

I'm downloading it myself right now and will post further impressions. From what talk I've heard these indy developers have given Creative Assembly a run for their money - and thank God for that, because they sure as hell needed a kick in the ass.

Here's the video that sold me.
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/introduction-developer-king-arthur/54024

 

[Kageh]

This looks like it could be fun indeed, I liked the trailer. Those guys made Crusaders: Thy Kingdom Come, by the way.

The sad part is that, coming from a eastern european indie developer, the only release is on Steam and it is NOT available for my european region  .

[Paelos]

I saw it on Steam and checked out the videos. My main concern is the balance of magical spells in a Total War environment. It seems like it could be totally cheesed by a few spells if done wrong.

[Stormwaltz]

Review at The Wargamer, for folks of that persuasion.

[Modern Angel]

Interesting. This caught my eye but I was terrified to pull the trigger since I've been burned by European games many a time. I may give this a whirl post-Christmas.

[Sky]

That looks amazing.

[Velorath]

Here's the video that sold me.
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/introduction-developer-king-arthur/54024

Not entirely sold on it yet but that video does look better than the trailer I saw which made it look like a generic fantasy RTS.

[Ingmar]

I have some gripes about the design of the armor and stuff but the game itself sounds verrrrrry interesting. Too bad I have like 43 other things to play first, damn Steam sales.

[GenVec]

I've been playing it for a few days now and can say that it is something of a flawed masterpiece. The campaign map is beautiful, the Quests are engaging, and the storyline actually has me following along with glee. Stability is moderately good - I occasionally get a run time error, but it's only annoying if it happens right after I fought a major battle.

The quests are quite simple, but well written - your Knight arrives at the text location and is confronted with a branching set of text options that can end any number of ways. For example, Sir Caradoc of Wales was raiding in Wessex when I confronted him - because my knight had a very high weapons skill I choose to fight him in single combat, which fortunately worked, sending him scurrying back to his homeland and securing my alliance with Wessex. Alternatives include fighting an open battle with his army or killing him after you've defeated him, an option which increases your rating with the old Faith (as it mentions that he is a known enemy of the druids). In sum it reminded me of the classic Darklands.

The major concerns are with the combat, which is poorly balanced. It reminds me of Mark of Chaos in that regard - archers are absolutely devastating at lower levels and chew through units in one or two hits. As you get to higher levels it becomes less of an issue - certain spells (Nightfall, Mists of Avalon) reduce shooting range to almost zero, and teleporting a unit of heavy infantry into the middle of a pack of archers will ruin anyone's day.

I'm playing as a Tyrant of the Old Faith and having a hell of a time with it. My Knights of the Round Table are mostly a group of Robber Knights and Mercenaries that I marry off to evil women, and face constant rebellion because of it. I also recruited a female UnSeelie sorceress to my round table and have become quite adept at guerrilla warfare with her and her pack of wargs. It's quite fun.

As someone mentioned earlier it is totally ahistorical, and despite my love of Bernard Cornwell it's actually amazing to see the Knights of the Round Table fighting giants and such. If anything I would compare it to a slightly more fantastical version of John Boorman's Excalibur, which was a movie that I've always loved deeply.

Anyway, it's worth the price, even with the flaws.

[Lantyssa]

Ooooooooh.  You do know something of the arts.