Ka2 is a tricky beast to review as it's proved somewhat divisive amongst its fans due to abandoning the open ended nature of the ka1's campaign in favor of a more driven campaign with new mechanics to reflect it. If you're looking for a "bigger and better" version of ka1 or a fantasy total war, you're not gonna find it here and king arthur 2 suffers badly from jilted expectations becauseKa2 is a tricky beast to review as it's proved somewhat divisive amongst its fans due to abandoning the open ended nature of the ka1's campaign in favor of a more driven campaign with new mechanics to reflect it. If you're looking for a "bigger and better" version of ka1 or a fantasy total war, you're not gonna find it here and king arthur 2 suffers badly from jilted expectations because of it (as is reflected in most reviews i've read so far). This game is best viewed as a spiritual successor to warhammer dark omen amongst others due to a strong campaign and though you might have the odd non scripted battle with a rival power for the most part you will be walking from story objective to story objective.
Reflecting this narratively driven approach, the armies you can control are designated by the plot and the old kingdom management has been scraped due to being incompatible with the way the campaign works (most of your money comes from spoils of war rather then being the result of your yearly revenue) and this is another change that has annoyed players who like playing the economist and enjoyed the logistical challenges of ka1 in where the strength of your economy translated into the number of armies you had and how powerful they were (which had the result of producing ka1's notorious end game difficulty spike). You also progress in tiers at certain story points which automatically upgrades your army, gives you new choices and allows you to fight previously unbeatable armies. The tier system has been met with mixed success, it's a great pacing tool imo that works with the campaign approach but others feel it's dumbing down from ka1. Yet despite what some players say, the game isn't dumbed down due to the removal of kingdom management, quite the opposite, well actually I'll let you decide for yourself: in ka1 once you had your eco growing it was easy to research and build everything, the only real factor was in what order.
In ka2 money isn't free and every purchase must be carefully considered on higher difficulty levels.
Does the 2nd really sound dumber then having the money to do everything you want? It's less total war and more dark omen but can't call the 2nd one dumber for it.
It's not like you build less in ka2, quite the opposite, whereas in ka1 construction was limited to your 3 strongholds in ka2 construction is all about your provinces and the locations within them, which then give buffs and bonuses to the army of the liegelord which is actually a deeper system overall then in ka1. Expanding on how ka2 is actually more complex on ka1, you now have access to artefact forge and can combine obsolete or just unwanted items to make your own (a very fun addition), you are now free to level up your units however you choose (in ka1 you were limited to investing 4 points max in any 1 area, and as max unit lvl was 10 this would mean most players would have all their melee units 4melee/4defence/2 stamina and non melee would be 4 archer/4defence/2 stamina) and units go to lvl15, Most welcome addition of all is extended diplomacy options that allow for added immersion as you interact with other powers and gain significant benefits from doing so too, enough to want you to be on good terms with them as they supply you with benefits, instead of merely conquering them (though that remains possible too).
The battle system has been changed a bit too, there is now a "magic shield" to aborb or mitigate enemy spells and how much you want to invest in magical defences is a welcome strategical decision (you can just as easily focus on shattering the enemy shield with an offensive spellcaster, or find a balance between the 2, point being magic shield is a welcome addition to battles and adds a strategical layer) and then there's the addition of flying units who work well, moving and flying gracefully before swooping down on the enemy below or strafe with fire attacks in the case of dragons....
I had great fun with ka2s tactical battles overall and see it as a marked improvement over ka1.
Lastly I suppose I should speak about the visuals and "feel" of the game. Visuals are gorgeous for music, considering ka1's music was sublime, how ka2s music matches it is beyond me (I seriously love ka2s overworld map themes).. Not much to say here, ah yeh, some people complain this game runs badly on high powered rigs. I play this on my laptop and game runs fine (graphical settings on high) so can't really say anything about that.
Bug wise the game has known 4 patches so far and personally, last bugs I had were gone with the latest patch. By comparison shogun 2 took me months before I could play it.
In conclusion, the game is great if taken on its own merits. Expect fantasy total war or a bigger ka1 and you will be disappointed. Enter the game with an open mind or acknowledging that ka2 is more driven then open world and you will love this game.… Expand
King Arthur II: The Role-Playing WargameYour Score0 out of 10User Score
