My thoughts

[Lighthope]

Now that they have lifted (most of) the NDA, I can finally say what I think about the game.

I have about 97 hours into the game. That isn't too much by many standards, but I've play it on Normal, Hard, and Very Hard.

This is a great sequel to the first.

The original was "What do we think we can do." The sequel is "What do we want to do."

So KoH2 is everything you wanted to see in the first. It's a great game. If you liked KoH1, you'll love KoH2.

Yes, there are things that are different. The new building system took a little bit to get used to, but in the end you get more out of it. So it is not restrictive at all.

The Court is a new addition and makes a good wrench in the works. It's something else you need to keep an eye on. I liked it.

Spies are massively reworked and are very useful. I barely used spies in the original. I can't live without them here.

Diplomacy is still weak. There are a number of things you should be able to do with diplomacy but can't. Especially when it comes to vassals.

I've always said this game is a worthy successor to Medieval II: Total War.

I will admit, though, that I really didn't play with the tactical battles, preferring to just let the computer handle it. They didn't include Quick Battles, which is painful by its omission.

For those who think Crusader Kings is too complicated, KoH2 will be a breath of fresh air.

My only major complaint is that the AI is too easy. Once you get your economy running and your armies built up, the game is essentially over. You'll roll-stomp your enemy. Even on Very Hard mode. Hopefully they will fix that in a future patch.

The AI doesn't seem to play to the minor victory conditions, so if you are a solo player, those won't add any variety to the game for you.

So based on its price point, KoH2 is a good investment. My only concern is that this may not be a game that you'll be playing months from now. At least not in its vanilla form. The game is moddable. And it won't be long before you'll see new varieties of the modded game coming out.

[Crimson Sky Dux]

If it's truly moddable I would like to see an ancient Rome mod since in some aspects this is better than TW which I really love.

[Warriordude]

This is in my wish list but sadly I can't play it since it's for Windows 10/11. I know it's soon to be 2023 but I only have Widows 8.1, I'll upgrade to Window 10 eventually.

[serotoninpack]

İlk olarak Crimson Sky Dux tarafından gönderildi:

If it's truly moddable I would like to see an ancient Rome mod since in some aspects this is better than TW which I really love.

I don't think the game can be modded to emulate ancient Rome administrative systems.

[JDPUK]

Thanks for putting this together, great to hear.

[ShadowFox]

İlk olarak Warriordude tarafından gönderildi:

This is in my wish list but sadly I can't play it since it's for Windows 10/11. I know it's soon to be 2023 but I only have Widows 8.1, I'll upgrade to Window 10 eventually.

It's free to upgrade to windows 11 right now I think

[Cyan]

I have a geforce gtx970 and only 8 gb ram. i suppose this wont be enough to play this beautiful game, right?

[ViciousV]

There have been many suggestions as to what to do with vassals in diplomacy. Nobody listened.

[yenni_mx]

Can you say why you didn't play the tactical battles much? Not interested or because they are poorly implemented?

I have read that they are "laughably bad" and "had no business being shipped with the finished game".

[serotoninpack]

İlk olarak ViciousV tarafından gönderildi:

There have been many suggestions as to what to do with vassals in diplomacy. Nobody listened.

I'm also curious about the vassals. Besides of those income percents they pay the suzerain are they otherwise useless?

[Heraclius Caesar]

Lighthope my dude now that we're 12 hours away can you amplify on the diplomacy bit a little more? What do you feel should be there that isn't?

[Mr Chill Chill]

İlk olarak Lighthope tarafından gönderildi:

İlk olarak Mcz tarafından gönderildi:

What about the voice acting and music? That made the 1st game for me. "Let us starve them to death!" "Move, move, everybody out!" just ingrained in my head for all eternity.

Music is great. I didn't really pay attention to the voices. Though as you get depper into the game, you get so many voiced messages it does get annoying.

I think it has at least as many voiced parts as the original did.

I've watched the developers play, and a lot of the lines are the exact same, possibly just copied over from the first game.

[Mr Chill Chill]

İlk olarak Lighthope tarafından gönderildi:

My only major complaint is that the AI is too easy. Once you get your economy running and your armies built up, the game is essentially over. You'll roll-stomp your enemy. Even on Very Hard mode. Hopefully they will fix that in a future patch.

Thanks for all the input. It sounds like the developers didn't learn a thing from the original game, as the lack of a real challenge was the main issue. I'll certainly buy the game at some point when its at deep discount, but full retail? I at least expected a challenge this round for that, and I don't think that's asking too much.

[zykva]

Thx a lot for this very good review, the first I see in months :) But a grand strategy game whithout a good diplomacy ? Very sad.

[mute all chat]

İlk olarak Mr Butters 99 tarafından gönderildi:

İlk olarak Lighthope tarafından gönderildi:

My only major complaint is that the AI is too easy. Once you get your economy running and your armies built up, the game is essentially over. You'll roll-stomp your enemy. Even on Very Hard mode. Hopefully they will fix that in a future patch.

Thanks for all the input. It sounds like the developers didn't learn a thing from the original game, as the lack of a real challenge was the main issue. I'll certainly buy the game at some point when its at deep discount, but full retail? I at least expected a challenge this round for that, and I don't think that's asking too much.

I think difficulty will be modded as soon as people will start modding the game. I hope we will have steam workshop here.

original game with Earth mode was hard enough for the challenge btw
upd. it called world scenario

[DeLastOne]

İlk olarak Kukurutz tarafından gönderildi:

İlk olarak Mcz tarafından gönderildi:

What about the voice acting and music? That made the 1st game for me. "Let us starve them to death!" "Move, move, everybody out!" just ingrained in my head for all eternity.

If you liked the voice overs in the first game, I'm pretty sure you'll like them in this one :)

I hope we can deactivated it though. It bothered me so much in the first one because every time you clicked on a menu item you had those voice. Very repetitive to be honest. I had to use a work around to stop it

For reference: https://steamcommunity.com/app/25830/discussions/0/3439081454531947536/