Hey look, 2009's indie superstar is getting it's sequel. Sweet.
I'm playing through the first right now. Honestly getting more frustrated here than Swordflight chapter one. But I managed to power through and got past the lock-in at the orc stockade.
For those who do not know, KotC is a turn-based OGL tactical rpg that has a focus on tactical combat with the 3.5 rule set. Prepare to get your wizards grappled, and shot at with plenty of save or die arrows. The sequel is currently on Kickstarter.
Let's talk about this series, free demo available on steam and the creator's website.
I've made it through the mountain pass. Never thought I would say this, but I'm getting tired of fighting dragons. Can't figure out how to defeat the salamander and the four earth elementals at the castle. Gave my wizard dex bracers, mithral leather, and health amulet. I'm thinking scrolls are much better than wands, and two cleric two wizards would have been better than two knights. I do really like martials though.
I should give it a go when I get the time. It does look simplistic art-wise, but I've never been stopped by that before. Is is sticking to 3.5e rules or are there some changes?
Yes it has house rules, the in game help even has a topic named "differences in the rules." Mostly omissions, but the biggest things are no skills, only three races and three classes, and all spell casters are spontaneous (and can learn from scrolls of spells they can cast.) The sequel will add skills and have many more races and classes. But the classes will be very home brewed. It also will add some other things omitted in the first, like more combat maneuvers.
Can't really say much since we had to skip grappling in Solasta because of the huge amount of animations that it would need to be implemented properly :(
Yes we will understand that. We have faith in you. Keep good work going. We are eager to play the game.
KotC got around that by using WotES like sprites (itself Ultima VI/VII like.) The graphics are abstract enough that the lack of animation is no big deal, but with three dimensional models more people will care. I mean I can live with it, but it is much nicer to have good animations. Take NWN and NWN2 for example, the first had such great combat animations, but I immediately noticed that NWN2 had no cleave animation (well there is a visual swish.) And that was one the many reasons NWN2 didn't feel as polished as the first.
The reason I jumped on Solasta, after finding the topic on the codex, is because how much it reminded me of KotC and D&D Tactics.
KotC2 kickstarter finishes in five days. We are only a week or so from the release of the first module! This interview explains some of the differences between KotC2 and the SRD, as well as what is in the sequel that was missing in the first game.
So, KotC2: Augury of Chaos came out. It's brutally difficult, so I'm going back to finishing KotC1 first, except I started over with a KCCW party. Going to the orc stockades and the game has been far easier. All characters have high dex and improved initiative. I also got improved grappling and improved bulls rush on my knight. Grappling the dwarf king and pining him was fun.
Now, KotC2 has a module creation system, so I can wait for some user mods. AoC starts with oodles of reactivity, and KotC2 has more consumables than the previous, so I love that. I'll try an all kobold party when I get around to it, worked well enough for Tweed.