I was on Steam and I came across a game called King Arthur The Role-Playing Wargame and was wondering if any 'dopers have tried it out? They way it’s described is very similar to many of the Total War games, but with RPG elements. It SOUNDS intriguing, but I had never heard of it until I was browsing through Steam, so thought I’d ask here to see if anyone has played it, and if they recommend giving it a try.
-XT
Hm…no one? Ah well. I found this review of the game, but no idea about the review site, since I’ve never heard of them. It scored an ‘8’, FWIW and whatever that means…one guy scored it a ‘3’ but the rest seemed to like it. I can’t link to the Steam page or the trailer, but if you have Steam it’s pretty easy to find in the store if you anyone is interested.
-XT
I was pumped when I found out about it but I couldn’t get it to work on my (admittedly well-below-grade) computer. So, sorry I can’t help but for what it’s worth if you do end up playing I’d like to hear about it.
I saw it too and I’m tempted. It got an 86 form PC Gamer, though I couldn’t find an IGN review for it. I’ll wait for a sale before giving it a shot though. A Total War Clone with fantasy elements sounds like a lot of fun. As long as the AI isn’t as brain dead as in Total War of course.
Ok…thanks for the responses. I decided to go ahead and buy the thing last night since I’m between games ATM. FWIW I’ll give my initial impressions.
It’s kind of cool actually. The tutorial so far has been interesting and informative, and there is a lot more back story here than a TW game…lots of little stories and character descriptions lacking in TW. Also, there are a lot more RPG elements. Your troops level up, and you can allocate points to offense, defense, stamina (used for running and special abilities), etc. Also, your ‘generals’ level up and get even more abilities and talents.
As for the tactical battles…it’s no TW. It’s less tactically oriented (at least so far), and you have a lot less control of formation and coordination. That could be my lack of experience with the game interface, but, for instance, I can’t figure out how to group regiments which makes battles sort of a pain in the ass so far. And it seems more oriented towards ‘pick a regiment on the other side and mob it with everything, then move on to the next’ type tactics, but, again, that might be just my lack of knowledge about the game.
The quests thus far are a mixed bag. Mostly just text questions and answers, sort of like the dialogue trees in Dragon Age. A few of them have been battle oriented which is cool.
The strategic map is interesting, though I’ve only unlocked the very southern parts of England and a bit of Wales so far. I haven’t seen anything to indicate that castles or fortifications are used at all (which will suck), but it’s still early in the tutorial of the first game, so that may change. There are a lot of different units, and what looks like more units that will unlock for both tech (and magic) and based on something a lot like Karma in Fallout, along with what appears to be some kind of religious choice (between the Old Religion and Christianity…thus far I’m moving towards the Old Religion ;)). There even appears to be Fairy type units that will eventually be unlocked based on…well, who knows?
Anyway, it seems cool and there looks to be a lot here. I went ahead and bought the full game with DLC’s included (it was $42 for anyone interested), and if anyone wants to know more I’ll be happy to post more of my impressions later on…at least until my pre-order purchase through Steam of Napoleon comes out of course. 
(well, and the expansion to Dragon Age as well after that).
-XT
Metacritic scores are pretty reliable IMO. Anything where the premise really grabs you and scores 80+ is worth grabbing. Anything 90+ is worth grabbing unless the premise totally leaves you cold.
It seems pretty good so far. Played a bit more earlier today in my hotel room and it definitely picks up. I would say that the tactical battles are a bit like those in Warhammer Mark of Chaos…similar kind of unit layout and control. Still haven’t been able to figure out how to group multiple regiments, but finally figured out how to replace battle causalities. Also, there are town and castle assaults, though, oddly, no sieges that I’ve seen so far. Can’t just starve out the other guy it seems, which is my favorite tactic in Total War…everything is an assault.
So far it’s been a diverting game, and probably worth the 40 bucks I spent on it. It’s nice to have something fun to play when you are on the road, and this game has been worth the price for that alone. It’s no Total War, unfortunately…but, actually, there are some parts I like better in any case (the fantasy backdrop, the hero units, the way units level up and the ability to craft their development points the way I want). I wish the questing system was a bit less text based dialogue, but still I give it a 7 out of 10 on the coolness scale. Controls are a bit clunky, and the tactical battles could be better, so only 5 out of 10 there. Graphics are not bad…6 of 10.
-XT
If you haven’t heard of it, there’s probably a really good chance that it sucks.
Well, I don’t think it was part of a main distribution system. The amount of suckage, at least so far, seems limited, even though I never heard of it before. Jury is still out though.
-XT
I got it a while back, being a fan of strategy games, RPG systems (even if it’s only a wee bit) and of Arthurian mythos in general. I found it pretty good, really. Takes quite a few liberties with the material, but hey, what doesn’t? I liked the objective/tasks system, in theory; sometimes you get a clear task, they show you the place it needs to be done and where, and sometimes they give you a general directive and let you figure out how to go about it. In some cases though, if you choose to do some things, it seems like you can end up getting way too far ahead of yourself and what you’re ready for. The difficulty can jump up quite rapidly if you’re not careful. Oh, and archers are overpowered (which as someone who usually packs armies full of ranged units in strategy games I found hilarious) but they patched in an option to weaken them down a bit.
Yeah, I noticed the thing with the archers. I had an entire army wiped out trying to get down a street in my capital by Welsh long bowman. It was crazy.
-XT
Looks like the King Arthur pack (game plus some DLC) is on sale for $28.80 on steam now if anyone is interested.
I bought it during the winter Steam sale (33% off, I think) but haven’t played it yet. With FFXIII and SupCom2 looking like disappointments I might give it a play through soon. It does sound like a fun game.
I have to admit that I was really enjoying playing the thing…until Napoleon TW came out and sort of drove it onto a back burner for a bit. It’s not as good a tactical game as TW, but it’s got a lot of role playing aspects that are cool, and even tactically it grows on you once you start getting the various magical and battle abilities. For a time archers are the king of the battle field, but later you can take down an archer regiment with a single spell, so there is some balance there. There are also anti-missile spells and spells that will teleport you anywhere on the battle field…but there are major limitations in the amount of spells one hero can cast which really puts interesting limits on them as well.
I wish more 'dopers were playing though so I could get the solutions to some of the quest puzzles. 
-XT
The base game is on sale (expires at 10am Pacific, so hurry) for $2.99 on Steam. Game with a bunch of expansions is $11.99 (not sure of the expiration date of that sale).
Yeah, there is a new Druids expansion that is out now too (it was $9.95 this weekend). I bought it but haven’t started a new campaign yet for it.
-XT