King's Bounty is out - 90% review from Gamespy

[A user named cat]

You can mod just about everything and it's really quite easy. Hell, even all the dialogue can be fixed if anyone is willing to go through it and fix all the typos.

The .kfs files can be opened with Winrar and within are nothing but text files that are editable with notepad. All the English dialogue is located in "...sessions/base/loc_ses.kfs".

 

[made]

Sweet, so how do I mod the experience cap for Spirits of Rage?

 

[A user named cat]

That I couldn't tell you, as there are quite a lot of text files to sift through. But this would be the best place to ask:

Mods forum

If you speak Russian, I believe their modding scene is much more advanced at the moment for obvious reasons.

 

[jagged-jimmy]

Playing it now. How many of those might-mind-magic-runes can one get? Do i have to be carefull which skill i level? Because atm i want to level some stuff aaaaaaand seeing that some skills are worth of 20 magic runes i am a bit greedy. Also i am tempted to push combat/damage spells, but i heard support are the way to go in the late game...So do i have to choose between order and chaos?

Just wanna know now to avoid being jack of all trades later without any possibility to go back.

 

[Balor]

Well, some chaos spells (like Sacrifice) are very good late game too, therefore you'd best pump up chaos and high magic fast, then proceed with other magics.
However, it may depend on your current spell selection - because it's random.

 

[Selenti]

IMO magic damage is pretty damn good if you pump up Higher Magic and Destroyer, ice snakes doing 2500~ (plus 500-1000 splash) damage per cast, with 2 casts a rnd is a lot of damage.

 

[Zhuangzi]

If you are are Mage then you need to work on your Intellect to increase the damage of spells. Mine is up to about 25 now (in Elven lands). In actual fact I think the Distortion school of spells is most important - insanely useful even. But Chaos is very good too. I wouldn't bothered with the third level of Order.

 

[Heresiarch]

You more or less only affordable to focus on one school in most of time, I maxed out Chaos in the first third part, maxed out Destroyer in the middle part, and could only afford to max out Order somewhere in the Elven lands, which is in the last fourth part of the game. I maxed out Distortion really late in the game.

While incredibly powerful, I recommend against bumping up Higher Magic early on. 20 magic runes are damn too expensive, and one extra spell in one turn in one combat doesn't do much if your spell power is too low. Bumping up Destroyer and other skills first are more cost effective. Higher Magic is almost a must after the middle part of the game though, even level 3 Higher Magic often doesn't seem to be enough.

 

[A user named cat]

Does anyone else love the hypnosis spell as much as I do?

I noticed whenever you take control of an enemy unit, it seems he makes for awesome fodder as the computer loves to instantly target only them.

 

[Topaze]

The game's brilliant, I tell you. I'm playing the Russian version, though, and I can see why it's kinda hard to translate into other languages. Katauri's games have always contained inside jokes that are hardly understandable to people outside the Russian sphere of influence.

Speaking of which, could anyone please tell me where the game keeps it dialogues? Perhaps I could go over the text when I have some free time. Gotta be checked afterwards, however - English is not my native language.

 

[A user named cat]

The .kfs files can be opened with Winrar and within are nothing but text files that are editable with notepad. All the English dialogue is located in "...sessions/base/loc_ses.kfs".

 

[Topaze]

OK, thanks! I'll see what I can do with it.

 

[A user named cat]

There are like 40 dialogue files to go through, you have a lot of work ahead of you. There's also ones for item descriptions and all that as well, if you want to look into them.

 

[jagged-jimmy]

The game is really nice indeed. Thx for the hints guys. Also... are sold out troops gone forever or do they come back after a while?

 

[made]

Generally only "while stocks last", though some locations get new troops when you finish certain quests.

 

[Zhuangzi]

Yeah, the castles, especially King Mark, replenish when you complete a major quest, upon which you receive a new title (Baron, Lord etc). This happens I think 3 times in the game. When this happens, King Mark and others improve their stocks. Eventually, the king will sell a horde of Horsemen, which are incredibly powerful.

Other major castles replenish/improve their stocks when you do something in particular to help them, or if you marry their daughter in the case of a handful of dwarven or elven kings.

But for the most part you have to use what's available and conserve anything you especially like. I had an issue with Royal Snakes in my first game. I loved those blue suckers but I chewed through my supply and I couldn't find anymore anywhere. Often there will be someone somewhere with an unlimited stack of a particular unit - for instance the Griffin king stocks (predictably) Griffins after you complete a major quest for him.

 

[Wulfgar]

Often there will be someone somewhere with an unlimited stack of a particular unit - for instance the Griffin king stocks (predictably) Griffins after you complete a major quest for him.

Damn, good to hear.

I didn't know from the start that you can exhaust units, noticed the numbers only after the Bowmen disappeared. It's different, makes the game harder, makes you choose your battles moar carefully, no "week of the Badger, go get your fresh stock ogogo". Money too, at one point I just kinda noticed: "Hey, there's no fucking goldmine anywhere, this money I'm picking up isn't going to reappear, and the only other source are enemies and quest rewards.".
But it has it's downsides too. I like a close battle, one when I go against an equal or even much stronger/numerous enemy and come out victorious, sometimes just barely. It seems like you can't play KB like that, it will cost you in the long run, what with the limited supply of money and troops.

But good to hear there's at least some troops to be had that you can be reckless with. Now just to make sure I have enough money to buy them...

 

[Zhuangzi]

. It seems like you can't play KB like that, it will cost you in the long run, what with the limited supply of money and troops.

Correct. Money management is definitely an issue, certainly it is a major issue on Hard difficulty. I know what you mean about the close battles being fun, but you've got to consider how much money you are losing. I have found that you can get into a spiralling cycle of money loss. Luckily, if you lose a fight you are actually paid by King Mark to rebuild your squad (though not enough to get a kick ass team).

This encourages you to develop ways to win without just grinding the enemy with your troops. I've only played as a Paladin and Mage, however, so it might be different as a Warrior. But I've come to rely on summoned cannon fodder/bait troops using spells such as Phantom.

 

[Wulfgar]

Yeah, playing on hard too. Normal was boring by the time I finished those three tutorial missions. Thinking about money and troops adds some much needed economy micromanagement, seeing how you don't have towns to take care of. Good thing I read it here in time, normal could have potentially ruined the game for me.

This encourages you to develop ways to win without just grinding the enemy with your troops. I've only played as a Paladin and Mage, however, so it might be different as a Warrior. But I've come to rely on summoned cannon fodder/bait troops using spells such as Phantom.

Gonna have to look into that. I haven't actually gotten very far yet, but it would seem I'm crossing into the area where low level direct damage chaos spells aren't going to be such a great advantage anymore, and I haven't yet bothered to experiment with finding a specific angle in terms of combining troops and magic that can push me forward to winning a more decisive battle against harder enemies.
But it's very, very fun nevertheless.

I also like it, as someone already mentioned a few pages back, how you don't have to solve every quest by killing the objective, sometimes you can turn on the questgiver or serve as an envoy between the two, reaching a diplomatic solution, and obtaining your quest reward without much hassle or loss to either money or troops.
It's not that awesome or anything, there's no speech skill or rolls to determine the success, but it's a nice touch, it makes the gameworld seem more alive and helps with immersing you in the role of someone who is supposed to be a king's close associate and a respected figure in the kingdom.

 

[thesheeep]

The Gamersgate version doesn't have Starforce OR Securom. It has a strange new form of copy protection known as a "SERIAL NUMBER."

Indeed!
I was baffled by the strange way it handled that.

 

[Wulfgar]

A patch for the English version was released:

download link and fix list.

 

[Anthony Davis]

I picked this up last night.

Very impressed so far. The game looks beautiful and vibrant and the gameplay is very addicting.

Thumbs Up.

 

[A user named cat]

A patch for the English version was released:

download link and fix list.

Nice to see that patch finally released publically, some useful fixes included. Problem is it breaks pretty much every mod, I really hate that. Not touching it until all of them are updated, I couldn't play this game again without the camera zoom mod and being able to see from a far distance.

 

[Zhuangzi]

I installed the Gamersgate 1.65 patch (not sure if this is the one you are referring to) and it didn't interfere with the camera zoom mod at all.

 

[A user named cat]

Oh damn, thanks. Was worried it'd break that mod, I really wish they'd make it modified like that by default. Though obviously it brings out view distance popup issues but those are ignorable. I believe the interface mod was already compatible with 1.6.5 as well, so that's a relief. Time to update then, just started over anyway.