Junior Adventurer's Guild - August: King Arthur: Knight's Tale

[Oyster Sauce]

Needed a turn to heal my main party, so I got rid of a side quest and Merlin. Feels like there should be a Skip Week button with more time sensitive stuff on the map, but whatever.

[J1M]

Seems we are all in agreement that Sages suck and should have had a ranged basic attack?

Lancelot having Inspire seems to make the whole class pointless.

[TheEmptyRoad]

Feels like there should be a Skip Week button

Rightful Christians have the Tournament Decree which does just that.

Seems we are all in agreement that Sages suck and should have had a ranged basic attack?

Lancelot having Inspire seems to make the whole class pointless.

Eh, kinda. With the third rank of abilities they get a Heal-type ability. Some hero’s ‘classes’ really don’t fit their ability list, so it’s hard to gauge whether it’s Sages or just those characters. Lancelot and Galahad are both basically Paladins, having a couple good support and/or smite abilities while Guenivere seems like she should be mechanically a Cleric of some kind.

[J1M]

Feels like there should be a Skip Week button

Rightful Christians have the Tournament Decree which does just that.

Seems we are all in agreement that Sages suck and should have had a ranged basic attack?

Lancelot having Inspire seems to make the whole class pointless.

Eh, kinda. With the third rank of abilities they get a Heal-type ability. Some hero’s ‘classes’ really don’t fit their ability list, so it’s hard to gauge whether it’s Sages or just those characters. Lancelot and Galahad are both basically Paladins, having a couple good support and/or smite abilities while Guenivere seems like she should be mechanically a Cleric of some kind.

I would assume sages were intended as healers of some sort but the game design really pushes you towards mitigating damage instead of healing it so a class that only does that is not helpful. Hence chill and freeze abilities.

Which would be fine if they didn't need to be in melee to use them.

[Oyster Sauce]

I'm not really interested in "seasonal endgame" content so I'm going to call it done at the original final mission. It was fun. I'd play Legion IX.

► Screenshots and random thoughts

-Encounters are pretty dry. Explosive barrels and barricades are in the game... in like 2 battles each. Aside from those it's just flat ground and some cover.
-Very little C&C in events. There was exactly one instance near the end of the game where my decision had future consequences that led into another event and I was very surprised. Are you a Christian and Picts are offering to help you against the ultimate evil? Don't bother because there are no gameplay ramifications besides punishing you with -1 Christianity points.
-Missions where you get more than 4 guys are significantly more fun. Wish it was built around 5 or 6.
-Giving the player first turn domination advantage throughout the entire game was a weird choice.
-Forge is weird. Why does upgrading your gear randomize its attributes?
-Didn't like that you have to permanently expel people or let them die to open up new slots at the table, especially since the game will fill your table with champions/vanguards/defenders before you see the other classes. There's an item that returns them to the pool but I only found 2.
-Keeping a B team felt like a mistake and I stopped bothering halfway through.
-Map clearing is tedious for very little reward. You'll still be getting piles of 11 coins at the final act... but is that going to stop you from making sure you spend extra time getting them all?

[J1M]

Kinda shocked at how many people kept the tutorial crew instead of switching to the well-known characters.

Game clearly needed more missions with mandatory characters that weren't Mordred.

[Oyster Sauce]

Kinda shocked at how many people kept the tutorial crew instead of switching to the well-known characters.

Game clearly needed more missions with mandatory characters that weren't Mordred.

viewtopic.php?p=74370-do-you-rotate-companions#p74370

It's a huge pain in the *** switching gear between knights, and there isn't enough XP to go around.

[J1M]

Kinda shocked at how many people kept the tutorial crew instead of switching to the well-known characters.

Game clearly needed more missions with mandatory characters that weren't Mordred.

viewtopic.php?p=74370-do-you-rotate-companions#p74370

It's a huge pain in the *** switching gear between knights, and there isn't enough XP to go around.

I just strip all of the equipment off of the ones that aren't active so it's easy to have one of each class. Don't really agree that there isn't enough XP for 6 characters but maybe that's true in the second half of the game.

[TheEmptyRoad]

Chapter 3 done. Boy howdy do I hate the Fae. Not just their annoying mechanics (ooh! Imma dodge backwards! **** you and your action points!), but also the lore behind them. Druids and other believers of the Old Faith treat with these baby-stealing, mother-killing bastards who view humans as livestock at best? Idiots.

I kept hearing horror stories about how 'hard' the Green Knight was. I just magicked him and his warlock buddy to death. Also, the fight beforehand, with the Unseelie witch who 'ambushes' you was laughably short, just jumped Boudicea behind her and one-shot her; fight instantly over, cowardly ****.

On to Chapter 4 and the Fomorians!

[rusty_shackleford]

foid party

[Tangerine]

I think the flower flurries in the Seelie forest at the end of act 3 look cool.

► Show Spoiler

kakt_01.jpg

[TheEmptyRoad]

Interesting how Chapter 4 is just as much about fighting your opposite numbers on the Alignment Axis as it is about stopping the Fomorians and the last fragment of Arthur’s Soul.

[TheEmptyRoad]

foid party

Aktchually Rusty, this is a foid party:

[J1M]

A little sad that the slow effect from my bear traps is being ignored by all of these Act 4 creatures with physical resistance. Had been looking forward to exploiting them for the larger enemies.

It is nice that tactics evolve and there's a noticeable benefit to bringing a marksman against the elves, for example.

Now that I'm further in the game I will say that it is indeed easy to keep 6 active characters at the same level, and should be easy to keep 8 characters topped up by doing all of the side missions. I think people complaining about XP scarcity aren't understanding how the calculation works for missions when your level is higher than them. Or not properly utilizing the free 1.5 levels of XP on offer each mission from the training grounds.

[TheEmptyRoad]

The King is Dead. Long Live the King.

I hereby nominate Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords for September's JAG.

EDIT/ADDENDUM: Ha! The final battle is one I got the achievement for using no potions/campfires for! I'll do a postgame post once I gather some screenshots and collect my thoughts.

[J1M]

Glad this game came up in the guild pick. I had played it closer to launch and bounced off of it because it felt too samey each mission. I find the town management and (shockingly) equipment management aspects enjoyable. I think this is because they restrained themselves to only 4 slots. And there are other things I like, such as a slot that is class-specific.

Also, props for creating a game that uses every color of the rainbow to represent a different type of hit points and making that somehow legible.

White - armor
Red - enemy vitality
Orange - hit points
Yellow - unbreakable armor
Green - player vitality
Blue - temporary hit points
Purple - corpse integrity

The UI treatment in general is great. The complaints I have about it are minor, such as wanting icons representing 10 action points and 10 armor. I like that each character has their own appearance and unique armor. The average D&D party looks like a troupe of homeless people when they are all wearing the same rags. Though it would have been nice to see Mordred's armor change at certain morality milestones. Such as his helm resembling a lion/boar and his shield changing based on chosen religion.

Areas that feel like they are superfluous or end-game specific: characters having levels that are different from each other (injuries mean you don't want to take carries on missions), the shops (never felt flush with enough cash or dust to bother reading the items available), scrolls, potions (if these didn't exist my game would have some higher tension moments), sage class (needed a ranged basic attack), essences.

Seems like a missed opportunity not having consumable tomes that allow you to reset a character's skills. Tomes of Regret are too rare. Mechanically equivalent to ~500 gold or something but feels like a great reward. Also would have enjoyed seeing some more enemy variety. Perhaps some that can only be injured by energy damage types. Would also be cool if the chapter conclusions were scaled to allow you to take a larger party (6 knights).

I found the forge useful, but in a counter-intuitive way: I could forge items my characters couldn't use yet so as soon as I hit level 10 or 15 I had weapon upgrades waiting for me and it only cost me a handful of the weakest gems.

The fantasy XCOM format was fun and the resting system is cool but I think it would be better if presented in a use-it-or-lose-it style. It was too easy for me to stretch an extra battle or two before repairing armor, and I frequently finished missions with multiple unused campfires. This led to a feeling that I was missing out on an important part of the gameplay because I wasn't incurring injuries. Would have liked to see enemies use Overwatch more often.

I found Balan and Merlin to be huge MVPs once they got their AOE spells and complimentary items. Was surprised to see Mordred turn into a caster by the end of things but it was effective. Yvain was amazing until the end of chapter 3 and then his damage fell off compared to other options.

Also props to them for creating a "rogue class" that doesn't feel lame. And for not making it mandatory to have one in the group. I usually avoid traps and stealth in RPGs because they feel tacked on. The dual-wielding making certain affixes twice as effective was nice too.

Game felt a bit long. In terms of length, placing the final encounter right after act 3 would have felt good to me. Fighting villagers again after genociding the elves felt like asset reuse. Final boss was a huge disappointment. No involvement of the campfire mechanic and it felt tuned so anyone could easily be successful on the first attempt. He literally only got one turn in each form before it was over, and the structure of the encounter meant I couldn't really use my fun abilities either.

PS: I really did not enjoy that there are so many references to dragons in this game, but that you don't get to see them on the battlefield except for the final boss. Baldur's Gate 3 did the same thing and it sucked there too.

[J1M]

@Oyster Sauce

Deus Ex: Human Revolution

is my nomination for next month and $3 at GOG for the next few days.

[Tangerine]

Completed on whatever the middle difficulty was called.

► Show Spoiler

Forgot to take the screenshot of the party, but it's Mordred, Lady Dindraine, Sir Ector, and Merlin.

kakt_02.jpg

Isolde and Sir Tegyr didn't make it. We had Sir Ector's body in here, but he got better when we read him a story.

kakt_03.jpg

Other screenshots.

► Show Spoiler

Boudicea is insufferable. She got the boot as soon as possible.

kakt_04.jpg

What an interesting symbol to summon demons with.

kakt_05.jpg

It's disappointing that in a game about knights, the melee knights are the least useful heroes. The combat is pretty solid and it did a good job of making traps useful, though it seemed like enemies stopped using them after the midway point. I wasn't too keen on this take of the Arthurian legends and found it hard to get into at first, but it grew on me enough to see it through.

I nominate Two World 2.

[CornCake]

After too much solitary thought, I nominate Diablo (with or without hellfire) for next month.

[TheEmptyRoad]

Ector pays me rent when I leave him in his mage tower. He's going to have to leave on his own.

I’ve started a Rightful-Christian run and just re-read exactly what his abilities do…I’m never booting him again holy crap.

[J1M]

Ector pays me rent when I leave him in his mage tower. He's going to have to leave on his own.

I’ve started a Rightful-Christian run and just re-read exactly what his abilities do…I’m never booting him again holy crap.

Yeah. Though I think Merlin running burn damage is more effective in combat. Fire Drake basically has +7 range given how it is targeted.

Maybe there are better options, but Merlin was putting out like 200 damage a turn just in burn damage.

Though my best turns were Balan with the Bone Ring that does 100% weapon damage adjacent to you for 1 AP. Start with that, use one of the AOE skills, use the ring again since it recharges after 100 damage, and if you have some AP boosts, recharge it again, potentially using the ring 3 times in one turn.

[Tinky Winky]

Been playing it on and off for a while, finally finished it with the Rising Eclipse endgame + The Chained God bonus missions. I lowered the difficulty to normal during the endgame though, and I don't really plan to try out the other set of endgame missions since there aren't much difference between those afaik.

[TheEmptyRoad]

POSTGAME THOUGHTS

TLDR: This game is quite a lot of fun, I highly recommend it if you like Fantasy, Arthurian Mythos, and/or TRPGs. Great fantasy 'vibe', the environments and music in particular are top notch and easy to get lost in.


On the Alignment Axis
Morality: Rightful - Tyrant, Religion: Old Faith - Christian

The biggest draw to repeat playthroughs, as the story - at least side quests - changes based on it. You cannot hedge here, you need to pick a side and commit. There is some wiggle room for RP I guess, but you will eventually lean one way or the other. However if you want to recruit some of the strongest characters in the game like Lancelot or Morgana, you want to commit early and just follow that axis for every decision point. 

For my first run, which started when I first picked up this game a little over a year ago thanks to this very site, I decided to go Old Faith-Tyrant. My reasons were twofold: First, I wanted to play completely against type and step out of my RP comfort zone by doing an evil (because make no mistake, while most Old Faith heroes live up to the moniker, the Tyrant and in particular Old Faith-Tyrant ‘heroes’ and their quests are evil) run for my initial playthrough. Second, it’s what I think Mordred would most likely do. 

This playthrough has made me evaluate what I want to do in my games and escapism; it’s reinforced my beliefs and in a roundabout way, my faith.

I cannot stress enough how sickening it was to help Sir Dagonet mock Christ, denigrate his followers, and desecrate houses of worship. It is very rare for a game to evoke such a visceral reaction from me one way or another. 


Another, though lesser, instance was the Red Knight’s quest. The Red Knight is an impudent, cruel, selfish, bloodthirsty piece of ****, who has the audacity to bark orders at Sir Mordred of all people, along with turning on and killing his own band of cutthroats and brigands once they were no longer useful. Not to mention razing and plundering a village for shits and giggles, he’s basically just an up-jumped version of the Bandit Knight you kill when recruiting Lady Dindraine. 

In all, playing as a Pagan Tyrant only reinforced my desire to play as a Rightful Christian for my second playthrough, and not just to see the other side of things, but to genuinely side with those who share my faith and morals. I do not want to be a petty tyrant or a heathen witch. I want to be a Righteous Crusader for the Lord and the Forces of Good. **** edgelords, **** witches, **** heathens. 

Something else to note about Rightful and Tyrant: It’s not Nice vs Mean, two Rightful decisions have you straight-up executing people (including a potential recruit to your Round Table) for being brigands or rebels. While Tyrant decisions can be harshly practical, like recruiting said brigands to reinforce your army. Good is not Nice indeed.

Fighting your Religious and Moral opposites in Chapter 4 added a bit of variety to it, with whole little side-quest-chains dealing with -in my case- the Righteous Council and the Order of the Seraphim. Going to be very fun going the other way now on my Rightful-Christian run.



On Undead, Savages, Inhuman Monsters (Warm and Cold), and more Inhuman Monsters (of the Void).

Finally, a game where monsters are monsters and savages aren’t just misunderstood tribals. Sure you meet reasonable individual Undead (who mostly want to return to the peace of death), Picts (mostly those who are not cool with summoning monsters from the Void), and Sidhe (helpful outcasts among their own kind), but on the whole the enemies you fight are satisfying to kill. 

The Sidhe are monsters. Even the ‘good’ Seelie Court kidnaps and mutates human children into monsters, indoctrinating them into hating their own kind.

This playthrough was the only one where I will recruit the Faerie Knight. Sir Gawain is a based monster hunter. Not sure how I'm gonna feel about Sir Lancelot with his seeming ties to the Fae (at least based on my encounter with him as a high-level Tyrant).

Holy heck did this game make me averse to anything fey, undead, or even most magic-related stuff. All kinds of Bad Things come from treating with monsters and magic and this game shows that without just telling you. I hate Fey, I hate Undead, I hate Demons, and I hate Savages. They all deserve to cleansed from this or any world with Fire and Steel.


On the Watery Tart, The ***** of the Pond, the last of the Tuatha de Danann - The Lady of the Lake and her schemes

I don't know how they did it, but from the way she talks to the way she looks, she comes across as very uncanny. Which might be the point since she's not human, but there's just something...off about her that is quite unsettling. It's interesting to see this character forced to utilize a man she hates to attempt to fix a mistake that she caused. Old Faith decisions have Mordred embracing his role as her 'champion' while Christian decisions actively undermine her and her influence over Avalon. She eventually comes across as quite desperate and panicky with the whole situation despite trying to look tough in front of her erstwhile foe.


On the *******, the Myth, the Main Character - Sir Mordred

No matter how you play him, this Sir Mordred comes across as quite introspective given his circumstances and you can genuinely buy him going for any combination of alignments in my mind. Kind of wish I could change his look more than between Red and Black vs White. Even the 'good guy' skin has all those spikes that make him look like a Warhammer Fantasy Chaos Warrior.


Boudicea and the Romans

Left this part for last since, well, they also seemed like a thrown-in afterthought. Unlike Tristan and Isolde, which (as far as I know) are both among the semi-legendary figures of British and Irish folklore and do fit in with the Round Table mythos quite well; Boudicea and the Roman's inclusion almost seemed to be there specifically for expansion/sequel-bait purposes. Boudicea herself is also the closest this game gets to a woke-ish 'girlboss' character. Still used her though, she's a ******* beast of a Vanguard, shanking motherfuckers left and right.


Endgame:
Final Mission Squad - Both Balan and Boudicca were essentially neutral and it was Balan who dealt the killing blow. Both were absolute units despite not having any kind of loyalty damage buff. As always Morgana is a beast with Ice Damage and Mordred himself becomes more and more of a caster as the Chapters go on. 

Going into the Endgame with the Old Faith-Tyrant crew I will probably focus more on Morgawse effectively replacing Mordred on teams while tweaking/leveling both Dagonet and the Black Knight alongside Morgana and the Faerie Knight and really ramp up Hex-related shenanigans to take advantage of the Black Knights unique Hex damage stuff, really lean in to the Magick-y shenanigans that Christians don't really get. 


Brief Thoughts from starting a Righteous Christian Playthrough: 
Selling my excess inventory as I go to prevent clutter/make a bit more gold. Only holding on to some stuff that might come in handy later.

I’m only expanding the Round Table when necessary so I don’t auto-recruit somebody after the Tutorial Crew. Yvain is currently on the bench since I recruited both Balan and Balin.

Killing Lanval but sparing his men is a Rightful decision. Further proving the Rightful =/= Nice or Goodie-Two-Shoes. 

Now that I kind of understand how Vanguards work and what they’re vulnerable to (Mainly being Overwhelmed while isolated), I’ve turned Balin into a beastly jumpy killing machine. Gave him Essence of Mutilation and man does he just chew through the enemy’s backline. 

In my first playthrough I found damage-on-hit items for Mordred and so I would just run him up the middle and let enemies kill themselves pounding on him. Seemed kind of fitting, given his spiky armor.

However, on this run I've gotten a taunt-on-strike item for him and that's turned him into more of a proper tank. Being able to control enemy aggro this early is really fun.

10/10 - Now to claim Avalon in the name of the Lord!

[Tangerine]

Not sure how I'm gonna feel about Sir Lancelot with his seeming ties to the Fae (at least based on my encounter with him as a high-level Tyrant).

He was kidnapped as a kid and a little bitter about it, if that affects anything for you.

[TheEmptyRoad]

Not sure how I'm gonna feel about Sir Lancelot with his seeming ties to the Fae (at least based on my encounter with him as a high-level Tyrant).

He was kidnapped as a kid and a little bitter about it, if that affects anything for you.

► Show Spoiler

Fascinating, because in a Tyrant playthrough they are aiding his Council of the Righteous and then yoink him away to the Deepwood after you defeat him the first time. The defeat him for real you have to get through a bunch of fey ******** they protect him with. He does seem a bit miffed here too, now that I think about it.

[Valter]

On the Alignment Axis
Morality: Rightful - Tyrant, Religion: Old Faith - Christian

The biggest draw to repeat playthroughs, as the story - at least side quests - changes based on it. You cannot hedge here, you need to pick a side and commit. There is some wiggle room for RP I guess, but you will eventually lean one way or the other. However if you want to recruit some of the strongest characters in the game like Lancelot or Morgana, you want to commit early and just follow that axis for every decision point.

Maaaan this part sucks. Actively punished for personalized RP. Just follow the Axis of your choice or lose out on everything from big upgrades to companions. It is what it is. Guess I'll just keep being Righteous and have a playthrough for each faith

[Oyster Sauce]

On the Alignment Axis
Morality: Rightful - Tyrant, Religion: Old Faith - Christian

The biggest draw to repeat playthroughs, as the story - at least side quests - changes based on it. You cannot hedge here, you need to pick a side and commit. There is some wiggle room for RP I guess, but you will eventually lean one way or the other. However if you want to recruit some of the strongest characters in the game like Lancelot or Morgana, you want to commit early and just follow that axis for every decision point.

Maaaan this part sucks. Actively punished for personalized RP. Just follow the Axis of your choice or lose out on everything from big upgrades to companions. It is what it is. Guess I'll just keep being Righteous and have a playthrough for each faith

I finished nearly completely neutral with no unlocks. It was fine.

[Tangerine]

On the Alignment Axis
Morality: Rightful - Tyrant, Religion: Old Faith - Christian

The biggest draw to repeat playthroughs, as the story - at least side quests - changes based on it. You cannot hedge here, you need to pick a side and commit. There is some wiggle room for RP I guess, but you will eventually lean one way or the other. However if you want to recruit some of the strongest characters in the game like Lancelot or Morgana, you want to commit early and just follow that axis for every decision point.

Maaaan this part sucks. Actively punished for personalized RP. Just follow the Axis of your choice or lose out on everything from big upgrades to companions. It is what it is. Guess I'll just keep being Righteous and have a playthrough for each faith

I finished nearly completely neutral with no unlocks. It was fine.

Does the game treat being neutral as its own path, or does it pick a default one?

[Valter]

On the Alignment Axis
Morality: Rightful - Tyrant, Religion: Old Faith - Christian

The biggest draw to repeat playthroughs, as the story - at least side quests - changes based on it. You cannot hedge here, you need to pick a side and commit. There is some wiggle room for RP I guess, but you will eventually lean one way or the other. However if you want to recruit some of the strongest characters in the game like Lancelot or Morgana, you want to commit early and just follow that axis for every decision point.

Maaaan this part sucks. Actively punished for personalized RP. Just follow the Axis of your choice or lose out on everything from big upgrades to companions. It is what it is. Guess I'll just keep being Righteous and have a playthrough for each faith

I finished nearly completely neutral with no unlocks. It was fine.

I'd be down for it if I just lost upgrades, but I wanna get the companions.

[TheEmptyRoad]

Maaaan this part sucks. Actively punished for personalized RP. Just follow the Axis of your choice or lose out on everything from big upgrades to companions. It is what it is. Guess I'll just keep being Righteous and have a playthrough for each faith

I finished nearly completely neutral with no unlocks. It was fine.

Does the game treat being neutral as its own path, or does it pick a default one?

A way to tell would be the out-of-mission UI. Christian or Old Faith symbols will be in the upper corners, and a Lion or a Boar will be on the bottom. You can do personalized RP, but you will likely lean toward one end of each axis. I'm not entirely sure but I think you still get Alignment events and whatnot even into the endgame, if that's the case, you might even get those high-alignment side missions if you do enough in the endgame?