![]() Now these sections are when KUF II completely grinds to a halt in terms of momentum. Your airship and the world map will be the primary means of travelling between regions and dungeons.Ĭloser to the capital you will run into larger areas populated with players and quest-givers – similar to regular MMORPG. Nothing too inspirational in terms of level or enemy design but it gets the job done. These can be considered the action-oriented “dungeons”, warming up the player for an epic battle, and are for the most part fine. Grinding to a haltĮvery encounter peppered with Ogres and monstrous Scorpions is prefaced by smaller combat zones, taking your force through towns and forests. While I’m not going to dwell on the story for the purposes of this preview (the English translations have room to improve), I do need to talk about how the game progresses. Typical RPG design, no doubt, though it does help you feel attached to your forces.Īnd as with all RPGs, there is a greater calling your hero must answer. Your hero, on the other hand, gets a full complement of gear, as well as skill points to sink in proficiencies and abilities. Troops have three slots each for upgrades, bolstering whatever statistic you find important. The second biggest difference shouldn’t be surprising: customization. As the number of troops you command is loosely tied to your level, you’ll never feel overwhelmed trying to manage them all. If ranged isn’t your speed then try out cavalry and spearmen. Given time, troops can be upgraded to fire crossbows or toss fireballs instead. Besides, it doesn’t require as much finesse as regular strategy games. You don’t necessarily have to make use of this feature but the game is so much lesser without it. Tactics here can be as simple as sending a group of soldiers to reinforce an ally’s position, or as complex as setting up an ambush with your archers. While there are options to swap orders between Attack, Defend or Follow in the midst of fighting, players can zoom out to an overhead view to give commands. The comparison isn’t really far off, though there are appreciable differences.įoremost of them all is the greater troop control. Playing as a hero general, charging into frontline combat and effortlessly cutting down swathes of foes sometimes we’d even have accompanying troops at our command. Glorious hero actionĪt a glance, Kingdom Under Fire II brings up memories of Koei’s Dynasty Warriors franchise. ![]() Helpful in attracting attention, but at the end of the day, nothing more than a bonus to the real meat of the game: combat. Other than that misstep, Bluside have done a good job in making everything look good. I doubt skin and cloth alone make for adequate protection against rusty Orc blades. ![]() It’s even more puzzling once I found out that my character wasn’t even a complete magic user, having to somersault into the fray with her electrically-charged sword. Unfortunately, KUF II suffers from stereotypically ridiculous armor design for women. ![]() While a lack of armor variety makes everyone look related from afar, up close the facial details come into play. ![]() That much is evident while meddling with the character creator, which is fairly in-depth with all manner of sliders. The game’s world is best described as high fantasy with Asian influences. Certainly impressive with the scale they have in mind. Kingdom Under Fire II brings a level of graphical fidelity I wouldn’t normally expect in a free-to-play MMO, and Blueside’s attention to visuals happily extend into the game’s environments as well. Get past the clunky log-in screens and you’ll be greeted with the three playable characters, beautifully detailed. Perhaps some of its problems get edged out with high-level content, something we’ll only find out post-release. The following are my impressions after a two-night stint with the game’s Experience Beta Test, going no further than Level 19. It’s just a shame that moments like those are broken up by stale quest design that are anything but memorable. Marrying gratifying hack-and-slash combat with light tactical judgments makes for an unforgettable experience, as each mouse click translates into doom for a dozen enemy grunts. Zooming in on the battlefield to fight alongside troops has been one of my oldest gaming dreams yet none, in my experience, has managed to come as close as Kingdom Under Fire II. ![]()
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