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Preview RPG Codex Preview: A peek at Legends of Eisenwald

Zed

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Tags: Alexander Dergay; Aterdux Entertainment; Legends of Eisenwald

Legends of Eisenwald, the turn-based strategy/RPG influenced by the original King's Bounty and Disciples 2, was one of the earlier success stories of Kickstarter that we covered here at RPG Codex. A little while back, we were given a closed beta copy to preview the game for our readers, so I snatched it and did just that.

9520.png

Here's a lil' bit from the preview:

Besides castles and towns, you'll come across taverns, mills, graveyards, bandit hideouts, smithys and more. However, these locations don't always offer anything of interest. In fact, some locations appear to be completely uneventful. Also, a tavern could for instance at one point offer little more than gossip, and at another point (later in the scenario) offer a quest. This could very well be because its a beta, but perhaps many of the locations are meant to be little more than scenery.
You will also come across NPCs wandering the map. Although these NPCs are rarely more than guards and patrols, they help make the world feel a little more alive. While the writing may not be the game's strongest point, the gossip in taverns and the NPC interactions can be quite funny, albeit a little silly at times.

The combat of Eisenwald is initiative-driven and turn-based. This means that units will take their turns based on unit type and equipment. For instance, a ranged combatant will act faster using a longbow than a crossbow. Heavy armor also seems to burden the initiative of units. But, movement is not affected. This is because every single turn in Eisenwald requires an action. You can't choose to move somewhere specific and then end the turn without doing something. Instead, you must choose a target to attack, and your unit will automatically move there and do so. That is, unless the path is blocked by another unit. The only alternative is to skip the unit's turn entirely. This rather simple approach doesn't mean that there is no tactics involved, or that you can just click wherever and be victorious. In fact, combat feels very volatile in that any one unit may suddenly mess things up completely, and your initial positioning of units and how you use them will greatly affect the outcome.​

Besides the actual preview, I also asked Aterdux' head Alexander Dergay a few questions regarding their experience with using Kickstarter:

Legends of Eisenwald, being an early adopter of the Kickstarter model, explored unknown territory with their campaign. When I asked Alexander Dergay how they prepared, he answered: “I think our success at Kickstarter was a combination of a lot of preparation and certainly a bit of luck.”
“Before our campaign on Kickstarter, we didn't know much about how it all worked and there was very little information available - no postmortems or other articles on how to do a campaign for a video game on Kickstarter.”​

There's more in the preview!

Read the full article: RPG Codex Preview: A peek at Legends of Eisenwald
 

Tripicus

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On the subject of movement, is there a limit on movement points? Or are the battlefields small enough that movement extends everywhere? I ask because you mention every turn requires an action and there is no partial move, and I'm wondering what restriction exist in regards to the movement of melee units. Or can a melee unit bypass frontline units to attack ranged units?

I must've missed the news on this item. I like the King's Bounty and Disciples games, so offhand the game appeals to me.
 

Tigranes

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Did not back purely out of drawing a line in the sand about KS, but it does look nice. I'll be interested to see how it and Conquistadors fare. I can't get my head around how the move/attack thing will work in practice and whether it'll be any fun, but excited about seeing it myself.
 

toro

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On the subject of movement, is there a limit on movement points? Or are the battlefields small enough that movement extends everywhere? I ask because you mention every turn requires an action and there is no partial move, and I'm wondering what restriction exist in regards to the movement of melee units. Or can a melee unit bypass frontline units to attack ranged units?

Indeed. We need more details about the combat.
 

Grunker

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Zed: Awesome preview. Especially the intro was very well done and for the first time I think I've got a picture of what this game is like in practice. However, could you expand on the combat a bit? It's one of the things I'm most anxious about :)
 

Mother Russia

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Wow it looks beautiful. Looks 2D instead of 3D, it's got such good models. :)

I wish the review was more detailed on combat mechanics, there isn't much there. How many units can you have in combat? How long does combat last? What kind of strategic options are there? What kind of units do you have? How does it compare to Armored Princess?

What are the system requirements? And will there be a demo?

If I can run this, this will be a day 1 purchase for me, it looks like. :bro:
 
Repressed Homosexual
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What happened to the combat, what's with that grid? They said that the combat system would be like Disciples 2, but now there is grid movement.

Also, Steam Greenlight sucks, obscure strategy games like this one stand little to no chance, because they don't have a legion of excitable fanboys to count on.
 

Zed

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Zed: Awesome preview. Especially the intro was very well done and for the first time I think I've got a picture of what this game is like in practice. However, could you expand on the combat a bit? It's one of the things I'm most anxious about :)
Kinda hard to explain without knowing what I can reference... Here's a combat walkthrough video from earlier this year: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVoive62rWY

What makes it a little unique is its fast pace. You can't make a move without an action (attacking, healing, buffing). But positioning still matters. You'll want your archers in the back for instance, and you'll want to attack from certain angles with some units (backstabbing etc). If an enemy is face-to-face with your unit, then your unit will kind of be "locked" on it, so early unit positioning is very critical.

Combat becomes challenging (even very early on) if you have no healers. Healers are initially peasant women from villages, and they later upgrade into.. like.. nurses or something. Later on, combat can become very challenging if you don't improve your units. But it's a scenario-based game. I'm sure some scenarios are more or less challenging than others.

I'll update the preview soon'ish and expand a bit on combat :)
 

Murk

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Those character models and equipment look fuggin' great. The combat also has a lot more going on than the initial explanation led one to believe. Definitely pumped for this.
 

LeStryfe79

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I backed this game, but gave both of my beta keys away while under the influence. I guess I'll have to wait for the actual release now.

:martini:
 

Infinitron

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What happened to the combat, what's with that grid? They said that the combat system would be like Disciples 2, but now there is grid movement.

Also, Steam Greenlight sucks, obscure strategy games like this one stand little to no chance, because they don't have a legion of excitable fanboys to count on.

Well, they had enough fanboys to fund their Kickstarter, didn't they?
 

Metro

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Also, Steam Greenlight sucks, obscure strategy games like this one stand little to no chance, because they don't have a legion of excitable fanboys to count on.

Greenlight is the only mechanism new indie developers have of getting on Steam and being on Steam > not being on Steam. Despite anyone's personal misgivings about DRM it's a no brainer if you're trying to sell games.
 

G.O.D

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Project: Eternity Wasteland 2
Finally something besides Wasteland 2 to really look forward to. :incline:
 

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