A new hero, young Olaf, the son of the Northling King, dedicates his life to the fight against the undead infesting the Northern Lands of Endoria. He will face epic battles, valor and love. Accompanied by gorgeous Valkyries who will assist Olaf on the battlefield, he will liberate the icy wastelands of the North, dwarven dungeons and Darion, the heart of the Endoria, from the reign of necromancy.
King's Bounty: Warriors of the North features:
• New plot, telling the story of the fight between the Good and the Evil, betrayal and love
• New companions - 5 Valkyries, assisting Olaf on the field of battle.
• New locations
• New units
• New skills
• New awards and achievements
• New school of magic - Rune Magic
Kythlyn wrote on Oct 6, 2011, 17:37:Nah, what you're talking about is pacing. Obviously repeating the same shooting mechanics for 20hrs is going to get stale but that's why you need to be given new locations, new weapons, new plot twists and new characters. That's how a game like Oblivion works, where you have towns, the wilderness, dungeons, random houses, etc. And with engines like idTech5 (RAGE) and Dunia (Far Cry 2) there is no reason you can't have those sort of large open worlds. We're already seeing more RPG like elements merging into the FPS genre and it's going a good job of extending the gameplay AND improving the experience, rather than simply padding it out. If you've got solid shooter mechanics then all you need is a decent sized world and you can add randomised encounters, though you still need sections that are more directed.
Personally I think 10 hours for a dedicated first or third person shooter campaign is more than long enough. That kind of twitchy gameplay is exhausting and repetitive. Really, it's the same 30-60 second fight being repeated over and over with variations on setting and slight changes to enemy patterns. 10 hours of it? Fine. 20? No thanks.
At least with a game like Deus Ex you have lengthy periods of downtime from the action in the form of storyline segments and RPG mechanics. Not to mention how character development keeps combat interesting. It makes sense for a game like that to be longer than 10 hours.
Cutter wrote on Oct 6, 2011, 13:29:
Anyway, dig this series, but they do need to release an editor with it.
theyarecomingforyou wrote on Oct 6, 2011, 17:02:
I'm not sure I agree. I sank over 100hrs into Oblivion and found the entire experience to be incredible. Now I find it hard to get as excited about a typical linear shooter where it might take between 6 and 8 hours to complete and cost the same - sure they tend to offer a more emotional involvement but not to justify the difference. To me the balance with FPS games is achieved with games like Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Far Cry 2 - both have very satisfying combat but give playtimes of 25hrs+. Then again, can you beat the value that the Orange Box provided? Two singleplayer games and an incredible multiplayer game.
There's simply no reason for games to be so short with the technology and budgets available. As we've seen, if other genres don't keep up with the value offered by RPGs like Skyrim then they'll be left behind. The only reason Call Of Duty has gotten away with ridiculously short campaigns is because of the effort put into multiplayer.
Alamar wrote on Oct 6, 2011, 15:14:I'm not sure I agree. I sank over 100hrs into Oblivion and found the entire experience to be incredible. Now I find it hard to get as excited about a typical linear shooter where it might take between 6 and 8 hours to complete and cost the same - sure they tend to offer a more emotional involvement but not to justify the difference. To me the balance with FPS games is achieved with games like Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Far Cry 2 - both have very satisfying combat but give playtimes of 25hrs+. Then again, can you beat the value that the Orange Box provided? Two singleplayer games and an incredible multiplayer game.
I agree, in a sense, but I think a lot of people are too focused on that ratio meaning something... Let's take a genre I sometimes enjoy... RPGs. A lot of the time, RPGs have a great deal more hours (so a higher ratio) than other genre's, but often, so much of that time is spent dealing with the UI, or worse; traveling. That's not quality entertainment to me...
I guess I'm just being all philosophical today : )
Cutter wrote on Oct 6, 2011, 13:29:Alamar wrote on Oct 6, 2011, 12:42:Kythlyn wrote on Oct 6, 2011, 12:04:
It starting to feel like there will never be a "slow time of year" ever again in this industry. It seems like every month there's another AAA title to sink dozens or hundreds of hours into.
It's a good time to be alive : )
-Alamar
How quickly you forget. Most of srping and near all of summer is virtually devoid of good new titles. We gripe about it plenty.
Anyway, dig this series, but they do need to release an editor with it.
Zoom wrote on Oct 6, 2011, 14:10:
Got the 3 pack too when it was on sale, not disappointed with the price / gameplay hour ratio there...
Cutter wrote on Oct 6, 2011, 13:29:
How quickly you forget. Most of srping and near all of summer is virtually devoid of good new titles. We gripe about it plenty.
Alamar wrote on Oct 6, 2011, 12:42:Kythlyn wrote on Oct 6, 2011, 12:04:
It starting to feel like there will never be a "slow time of year" ever again in this industry. It seems like every month there's another AAA title to sink dozens or hundreds of hours into.
It's a good time to be alive : )
-Alamar
Alamar wrote on Oct 6, 2011, 11:42:Yeah, same. I sunk a huge amount of time into it. In fact Steam says I played Legend for 60hrs and I still hadn't completed it. Actually, it's about time I played it again - I just checked my saved games and they were from over two years ago!
If you're still with me, I'm merely trying to say, I picked up the KB 3 pack on steam (likely the summer sale), and got about 20-25 hours in, and moved on to other stuff... I keep wanting to go back, but when I try, I forget where I am, and I don't want to restart just to get a sense of placement...
Wowbagger_TIP wrote on Oct 6, 2011, 11:51:
Same thing happened to me. I forget where everything is, where I'm going, what I should do next, etc. It's a good game, but it's long and hard to play straight through. Knowing all the other games that are coming out soon that would distract me for quite a while (mainly Skyrim), I definitely wouldn't start playing now. Maybe a good game for a slow time of year.
Alamar wrote on Oct 6, 2011, 11:42:Kythlyn wrote on Oct 6, 2011, 11:29:
I just started playing this series. The Legend seems like an enourmous game. If the sequel, expansion and now this 2nd sequel are as big, oh man... that's a lot of King's Bounty. The question is, will the gameplay remain interesting throughout?
I can't speak for everyone, and this example isn't even necesarily indicative of anything but my sometimes typical long term play sessions...
If you're still with me, I'm merely trying to say, I picked up the KB 3 pack on steam (likely the summer sale), and got about 20-25 hours in, and moved on to other stuff... I keep wanting to go back, but when I try, I forget where I am, and I don't want to restart just to get a sense of placement...
-Alamar
Kythlyn wrote on Oct 6, 2011, 11:29:
I just started playing this series. The Legend seems like an enourmous game. If the sequel, expansion and now this 2nd sequel are as big, oh man... that's a lot of King's Bounty. The question is, will the gameplay remain interesting throughout?